Apprentices
by Karama9
Summary: Apprentices bickering, ninjas scheming, a camping trip and eventually, a lot of trouble. Kamakura and Billy don't get along and their senseis decide to help them mend their differences. Last chapter now up!
1. Chapter 1: Homecoming

**Author's Notes**

This is set in the same AU as _Arashikage_, but contains very minimal spoilers (arguably none) and you certainly don't need to have read _Arashikage_ to follow this one.

Just a few points of reference:

I kept Jinx as I see her in the comics, not an apprentice to either SE or SS, just below their levels (like most ninjas) and consequently still able to learn from them. Her rank within the clan would also be lower than theirs.

Billy's path in the comic books is pretty tangled and involves a lot of named Cobras becoming good at least temporarily, and a lot of plain disappearing whenever he didn't fit in the plots, accompanied by random reappearances. I say this with the utmost respect for the writers; I think this is simply the kind of thing you have to do to keep churning out stories and manage an insanely large cast of characters. Much like I did with Storm Shadow, and like I had already started doing in Arashikage, I re-invented a bit while trying to keep the character true to himself.

Kamakura… I will admit that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing a lot of him in the comics because I'm missing a lot of later issues. I've kept his personality as I see it from what I have seen and read, but as seen in many stories here, he's still an apprentice. His portrayal and status is heavily influenced by WillWrite4Fics' and CrystalofEllinon's stories.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Homecoming**

Storm Shadow stood by the door of Hawk's office, still in his muddy PT clothes, at a complete loss as to the reason he had been summoned with such urgency. He honestly couldn't think of any reason why he'd be in trouble at the moment, and if Billy was in danger, he wouldn't be the only one here: Hawk usually sent a few people along with him to fetch his apprentice whenever Cobra got close to figuring out the location of the Commander's estranged son.

He didn't have to wait long. Hawk called him in within less than a minute of his arrival.

"William has come out of hiding," the General said as soon as Storm Shadow was through the door. "He's on his way to New York."

Storm Shadow's eyes widened. He opened his mouth, closed it again, sat down and cradled his head with his hands.

"He decided he was tired of hiding," he guessed.

"Yes. He's 18, so we can't legally FORCE him to avail of a protection program," Hawk said.

"Has Cobra picked up his trail yet?"

"No, but I'm assuming it won't take very long. You know how it's been lately."

Storm Shadow nodded. The Commander went through phases when it came to his son and although he could spend months not sparing Billy a thought, it had been just the opposite for the past little while. Such periods of obsession were generally good for the rest of the world, as the Commander spent most of his energy trying to locate one individual rather than trying to take over or blow up a chunk of the planet. It did mean that they had to be careful to keep Billy well hidden, something that irritated the teenager to no end. Apparently, that irritation had finally boiled over.

Tommy sighed and his upper lip curled in a slight snarl. Of all the idiotic stunts to pull… he had half a mind to let Billy get captured before rescuing him, just to teach him a lesson. He wouldn't of course – there was no telling what kind of damage Mindbender could do in even a short time.

"He has expressed the desire to join the team," Hawk said, interrupting his thoughts. "I have thought about it, and he would be a good asset: he's smart and he's a ninja in training."

Storm Shadow groaned. All right, it wasn't an idiotic stunt after all: it was a scheme to get himself on to the team.

"I'm in no position to complain about your unorthodox recruitment standards in general or your passion for collecting ninjas in particular, but you DO realize you're rewarding reckless behaviour and manipulative tendencies? He didn't go out of hiding just for fun: he wanted to join the team and he's forcing your hand."

Hawk nodded.

"Which is why we're not going to reveal the circumstances surrounding his hiring to the rest of the team. This little stunt would only create unnecessary tension due to how reminiscent it is of the Commander... there are some who are already wary of the boy, and those who aren't could become more guarded at the drop of a hat. You can tell Snake Eyes when he comes back from his mission, I would have called him here too if he were on base anyway. You are not allowed to discuss the details of William Kessler's arrival with anyone else."

"Understood, sir," Storm Shadow said, not quite suppressing a smirk. "I assume this secrecy has absolutely nothing to do with your not wanting to give the impression a child is forcing you to let him have his way?"

Hawk's eyes narrowed.

"That concern would be taken care of by simply refusing William's request and capturing him under a made-up pretense. I'm not that easy to control. This is my choice, even if it happens to match his objective. That being said, I do realize you wouldn't be the only one to reach this conclusion. He will be at the airport in about an hour. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Billy had known all along he'd be in for an earful the second his sensei got within earshot of him, and was quite prepared to face the music. Or at least, he thought he was until he left the luggage claim area and spotted Tommy.

If looks could kill, the glare that was directed his way could probably kill, resuscitate, kill again more painfully, turn into a Zombie and burn to ashes to finally finish the job.

It took a good bit of willpower and self control to keep walking as though he didn't realize these were the last few pain-free minutes he'd have for several months. He clenched his jaw, reminded himself that catching up on his training was exactly what he wanted, walked right up to his sensei, bowed and opened his mouth to give a proper greeting.

"This had better be good," Tommy growled.

Billy swallowed.

"Sensei, I am delighted to see you again and I wish to resume my training," he said. "I trust you will not deny this request from your apprentice."

Tommy snorted. Billy automatically paled and tensed.

"How did that bond thing go again?" he asked, smiling nervously. "You swore to protect me, right? Doesn't that mean you can't maim me? I mean, come on, I only got one leg and eye left, I WOULD like to keep them."

"I also swore to teach you all I can, and it's really time we got cracking on that more seriously. Your request is granted."

Billy knew better than to be fooled by the calm tone.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

Tommy just smiled – which was answer enough - and started towards the exit, motioning Billy to follow. Billy took the hint that the public part of their conversation was over and followed silently.

* * *

"Do you think I don't realize that Kamakura was caught on film by news reporters just last week?" Tommy said the second they were both inside the car. "I'm very familiar with jealousy, Billy, you're not going to convince me the timing of the increase in your resolve to get back to full time training had nothing to do with seeing how good your brother has become."

Billy clenched his teeth.

"He is a good example of how much can be accomplished with a proper training schedule and one of the best in the world for a sensei."

"So you come out of hiding, knowing very well that we won't let you be captured and that as long as you refuse any other safe place, we'll keep you at the Pit?"

Billy smirked.

"AND that I'll be a good bit more useful to Hawk working for him than rotting in one of his cells."

"You are a conniving little pest."

"You are breaking my heart, Sensei," Billy said in a melodramatic tone. "Do you feel no joy at all at the thought of being reunited with your apprentice?"

"I'm not that selfish," Tommy grumbled, starting the car. "You know I've been looking forward to really starting your training again, but you're in danger each time you're here. Right now, any joy I might feel is overshadowed by worry."

"All the more reason to make sure I learn how to take care of myself. I think it's obvious by now that spending just a few weeks with each teacher you find me, only scratching the surface of their respective specialties before I have to move again, hasn't yielded particularly impressive results. I've been training LONGER than Kamakura, but anyone watching us would think it's the other way around."

"Don't you worry about that. You want intensive training? You're getting it."

"Classic case of 'be careful what you wish for', isn't it?"

"Glad you realize it. Apparently, being 18 has not _completely_ addled your brains."

Billy weathered the insult, but the tone was chilling. He decided to try and lighten the conversation and figured that since his sensei was going to torment him about being 18, he might as well play the part. "So, is Cover Girl still single?" he asked jokingly.

"Officially, yes. You go right ahead and flirt with her… at the very least, you'll get more strenuous PT out of it."

Billy blinked.

"You're kidding," he said. "Beach Head?"

Tommy smirked and his tone warmed up just a bit. "Of course I'm kidding. You know just as well as I do that nobody on base is currently violating fraternization regulations."

Billy snorted. "Beach Head…! Well, I suppose… she does like tanks, and he's kind of like a human tank… Man, I am WAY behind on gossip. What else should I know?"

"You're trying to change the subject," Tommy said, purely for the sport of making his apprentice squirm a bit longer.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were done terrorizing me for now. Proceed."

Tommy's patented sadistic smile widened into a grin when Billy's heart rate jumped upon seeing it.

"So," he said calmly, satisfied by the reaction. "Gossip? Well, there IS a betting pool on the go about Clutch…"

* * *

By the time they were in view of the Pit, the conversation had veered to what Billy had been up to, including his departure from his and his mother's latest safe house.

"So yeah," Billy concluded after telling the story, "she's probably very angry with me right now. I'm going to have to write her every day for a while if I ever want her to forgive me for this."

"Serves you right, the poor woman is probably picturing you back in your father's clutches already," Tommy commented. "And speaking of consequences of your little stunt, you are not to reveal to anyone how you convinced Hawk to hire you. As far as anyone else than you, me and Snake Eyes know, you never went out of hiding to force his hand – he talked you into coming here. In fact, just to make sure the story that goes around is exactly how he wants it, we're both going to pretend you're only back temporarily again until he makes an official announcement. Clear?"

Billy barely resisted rolling his eyes. It had been several minutes since his sensei had looked or sounded like he was going to teach him new levels of pain within the next couple of days; he didn't want to end the truce.

"Very clear," he replied. "I expected as much."

"Of course you did. Good job on not rolling your eyes at my stating the obvious, by the way. I did have to make sure, considering your recent bout of insanity."

Billy snorted but didn't get a chance to give more of an answer than that: they were at the gate.

* * *

The motor pool was, as usual, a busy hub of activity, with various vehicles being tinkered with or repaired. Stepping out of the car and setting foot in the Pit, where, for once, he would stay for a good long while, Billy felt so relieved that he had to take a deep breath to stabilize himself and not get misty-eyed. This was it; he was done running away. He was home and he'd actually get to fight back.

"There you are!" Clutch exclaimed, running towards them with a frown. "Storm Shadow, what did I tell you about this car?"

Tommy cocked his head.

"You said I wasn't allowed to take it. You expected me to listen?" he asked, feigning surprise. "I'm sorry, I assumed you knew I wouldn't, otherwise I'd have made it clear."

Clutch snarled.

"I just FIXED this one! It's in perfect condition, it's better than when it came out of the factory!" he roared.

"I agree, it handled like a dream. You really are talented."

"That's not the point! You ALWAYS break them!"

"That is a gross exaggeration. I only damage the vehicles I take two times out of three. Nowhere near 'always'. As it happens, I didn't do any damage at all on this one."

"It's true," Billy piped in. "Not a single crash, and nobody even shot any kind of weapon in our direction."

Clutch turned towards him and his eyes widened briefly, as though he'd only just noticed his presence.

"Oh. Hi Billy. Didn't see you there. No accident, nobody shooting at you? You're sure?"

Billy nodded.

"He even went the speed limit," he said, shaking his head in an indulgently irritated way.

Clutch seemed to calm down a bit, but he turned back to Storm Shadow.

"Well, next time, you ask ME for a car, you hear?"

"Loud and clear," Storm Shadow said with a smirk.

"And will you?"

"Absolutely not. You always give me the crappiest rust bucket you can find."

Clutch turned purple and opened his mouth to shout something.

"I'm sorry, I really can't stay," Storm Shadow said with an apologetic smile, cutting him off and edging past him. "I need to start working on his schedule," he added, pointing at Billy.

He caught the wrench that was thrown towards the back of his head and threw it back in a toolbox sitting a few steps away. Then, the two of them were in the elevator to the lower levels, listening as Clutch screamed insults at the ninja.

"He needs to work on his vocabulary," Tommy commented. "Did you notice how much he repeats himself when he's calling me names? It gets dull pretty quick. At least Flint is entertaining when he's screaming at me."

"I thought calling you a pixilated ninja was cute."

Tommy shrugged, visibly unimpressed. "One, he didn't come up with it and it's used a lot. Two, it's much funnier when I'm actually in uniform. Three, I'm personally more partial to 'tetris-camo ninja': it makes me picture a fight in a life-sized tetris game."

Billy whistled appreciatively. "That does sound like fun. Speaking of fighting, what can I expect schedule-wise?"

"I'm thinking we'll aim for fifteen hours for the first while to get you back in shape. I'll be generous and count PT towards that, but I will ask Beach Head to push you."

Billy managed to keep his face neutral, but his pulse betrayed his feelings to his sensei just as well as a nervous gulp would have. Tommy smirked.

"Won't I also have some work to do?" Billy asked in a would-be disinterested tone.

"That's why we'll AIM for fifteen hours. I can't have you too sleep deprived if you're supposed to be usable to Hawk, so we'll have to cut into that a bit on days where you're taken with your other duties for any length of time."

"You know, I think the scary part in this is that you think you're being very reasonable."

"Now, come on," Tommy said in a hurt voice. "I'm doing what I can, here. I know I just promised you intensive training, but I promise we'll trade quantity for quality. We'll make those hours really count, and you'll make good progress even with the restricted training time."

Billy's eyes widened briefly.

"Is there anything I can say that will not result in your promising more pain and less sleep, at this point?"

"You wanted intensive training, you're getting it," Tommy repeated, flashing a sadistic smile again.

Billy wisely decided there was no good answer to that and kept quiet. The elevator soon arrived at the level Tommy had requested and they got off.

"I trust you remember where the dojo is?" Storm Shadow asked.

Billy nodded.

"Good. Go practice your katas while you wait for me – there should be a gi you can borrow in there. I'll see you in about an hour and a half. Kamakura and Jinx should be in there; very nicely ask Jinx to correct you if you make a mistake, and if Kamakura does it too, you listen to him as well, he IS at a superior level than you are. For now, anyway."

Billy recognized the tone – Storm Shadow was done tormenting him and was in full teaching mode. He bowed with a smile, eager to start in spite of himself and happy, all in all, to finally have his real sensei back – even if it meant having to put up with Kamakura.

"Yes, Sensei."

He took off at a trot.

* * *

Just a note on plurals for Japanese words: technically, there is no plural form in Japanese so you would have one ninja, two ninja, one kata, three thousand kata, etc. I personally prefer to anglicize them and use a plural form as needed, for clarity.

Thanks for reading, and please review! I live on feedback (and caffeine, but mostly feedback). Snake Eyes and Kamakura will be in the next chapter, ninja fans. :)

A big thank you to Asterisk78 for beta-ing this story.


	2. Chapter 2: Brothers

**Chapter 2: Brothers**

Storm Shadow settled in the rec room nearest to the dojo with some paper and a pen, and started drawing up a training schedule. He wrote everything in the most uncommon kanji signs he could to avoid peekers noticing he was doing a long term schedule.

Snake Eyes appeared a few minutes later and snorted softly after taking a look at the nearly indecipherable schedule – Tommy's flawless memory had allowed him to collect a nearly endless collection of kanji, from the usual to the rare to the historical curiosities. Storm Shadow turned to face him, looking just a little bit more smug than Snake Eyes felt was entirely justified.

"Still haven't learned to read, brother?"

Snake Eyes signed that he doubted even most Japanese scholars could read that many kanji and pointed to a particularly ornate one he had never seen before, asking whether Tommy had actually made that one up or whether it was merely one that hadn't been used in a few centuries.

Storm Shadow scoffed. "It's my NAME," he said.

Snake Eyes shook his head and wagged his finger. He knew twenty different ways to write Arashikage and ten ways to write Tomisaburo or Tommy, and the kanji he had pointed at wasn't even close to resembling any of them. Storm Shadow chuckled good naturedly.

"Awh, you're no fun anymore: you used to fall for that every time. I'm not sure whether we made it up or not, to be honest. I haven't seen it anywhere else than in our scrolls. It represents the first phase of one of our meditation techniques."

Snake Eyes sat down and signed that Hawk had told him about Billy.

"Oh good," Storm Shadow said. "You can help me draw his schedule."

Snake Eyes examined the schedule again, trying to make some sense out of the kanji he recognized. He had a headache within two minutes: his time in Japan had been mostly devoted to training, not studying kanji. He could read hiragana and katakana just fine, but all in all, he had mostly ignored the Chinese-inspired system of cryptic little abstract drawings. He'd only learned to recognize the most common ones, plus the ones used in the various ways to write his brother's name – strictly so Tommy would no longer be able to pretend anything and everything was.

He signed to remark that the schedule seemed quite heavy.

Tommy grinned rather wickedly. "He wanted intensive training so badly," he whispered in Japanese, "I could hardly deny him."

Snake Eyes snorted silently and nodded. Considering the stunt Billy had just pulled, the ironic punishment seemed very appropriate, not to mention it would help get the living Cobra Commander bait at a level where he could mostly look after himself.

Tommy started pointing at the various parts of the schedule, reading the kanji aloud. Snake Eyes mostly just nodded, making the odd suggestion or remark every now and then, mostly to try and convince his friend to cram in more actual combat training. Storm Shadow gave a little, but defended his choice for more well-rounded training by saying that with his past and expected future trials, Billy needed the balance and the meditation if he was to stay sane.

They had been at it for about twenty minutes when Snake Eyes's head snapped up and Storm Shadow cocked his, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Oooh, ouch. Kamakura is going to have one beautiful bruise on his shin. Honestly, brother, do you teach him to be forgetful, or do you have him convinced, somehow, that striking an indestructible metallic limb is a good idea? Don't tell me he's using my apprentice for Iron Body Training: that would just be insulting."

Snake Eyes got up and leveled a glare at the other man that could be felt right through his visor, and that was known to make foes run away screaming. Storm Shadow got up too, folding the incomplete schedule and stuffing it in his pocket.

"That WAS the first blow," he said, edging past Snake Eyes towards the door, walking fast despite his would-be casual tone. "What, you think I'd let Sean beat up on Billy for any length of time? He's well below his level; you know that."

Snake Eyes twitched at the all-but-spoken reproach over his apprentice attacking his lower level brother, but followed Storm Shadow, walking just as quickly.

A few steps further, Storm Shadow winced and took off at a run. Snake Eyes followed suit, without needing to know what his brother had heard to guess it was somehow an indication that the fight was getting more serious.

* * *

Kamakura had woken up that morning to a wasp stinging him right on his nose. He didn't know how the insect had gotten inside and he didn't care – what he did know was that the sting hurt like the dickens but that given his ninja apprentice status, he was going to be expected to just suck it up and pretend it didn't bother him.

It would have been annoying enough had the sting been on his arm, or his leg… heck, even on a hand would have been better than this: as it was, he couldn't breath at all from his left nostril, thanks to the inflammation that Doc's cream had only slightly diminished.

The fact that Jinx had laughed until she was sore when she had seen him had not improved matters any. Sensei hadn't even been there at the time, a fact which Kamakura was irrationally upset about – he would have absolutely loved to see him ask Jinx what she felt was so funny about facial injuries: Snake Eyes may not be her Sensei, but he was still a Master for the clan, and she would have owed him obedience and respect even if she hadn't been sneaking in training sessions with him whenever both their schedules allowed it and Storm Shadow, who she also used as a part time teacher, was unavailable.

As it was, she had gotten away with laughing at his misfortune with no consequence whatsoever, unless you counted a brief sparring session where she had, as usual, kicked his butt. Sensei had arrived towards the end of it and had merely asked whether he could breathe okay, a question Kamakura interpreted to mean he had fought as though he couldn't.

All in all, it had been a perfectly rotten morning, and his head had somehow felt the need to make things worse by suddenly remembering the last time he had been stung by a wasp: in Springfield, about two weeks before his biological father had died in the service of Cobra. Sean Collins had loved his second father dearly, as evidenced by his change of name; just the same, he had loved his first father as well and his death and the events that had followed had been very hard. Remembering it had done nothing to improve his mood.

He was in the middle of taking it out on a training dummy when the door to the dojo opened. He turned and his eyes widened – of all the people Sean Collins absolutely did not want to see today…

"Billy!" Jinx exclaimed, grinning. "Welcome back! Before you ask, it's a wasp sting."

Billy cocked his head, but then caught a glance of Kamakura and snorted before he managed to cover his mouth with his hand.

"Sorry," he said, barely suppressing his laughter. "It's just… you look ridiculous. Sorry. Thank you, Jinx. Err… I need to practice my katas… would you be so kind as to let me know if I make a mistake?"

"Sure thing," she replied, smiling.

"I cannot for the life of me figure out what is so funny about this," Kamakura growled at Billy. "Before you start wasting Jinx's time, would you care to explain?"

Billy automatically lost his grin.

"Waste her time? What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"It means you show up here once in a blue moon and stick around for a couple of days wasting the Young Master's time and energy until he gets tired enough to send you away again, and now you want to do the same to Jinx. Now answer the question: what's so funny about what is basically an injury on my face?" He thought of asking whether Billy also found Snake Eyes hilarious, but decided against it so as not to give the impression he was equating his predicament with that of his Sensei.

Billy had grown sequentially red, than white as Kamakura was talking. When he answered, it was in a hiss.

"I do NOT waste his time, and the fact I have to leave all the time is absolutely not because he wants me gone. You KNOW that! What is it? Can't stand the fact I don't act like an enamored puppy dog whenever he's around? Or is it that you had to BEG Snake Eyes to take you in, and you feel the need to think ALL senseis secretly wish they didn't have apprentices?"

Jinx wisely stepped back, fully expecting the two boys to stop talking with their tongues very soon. Kamakura's wasp sting was now looking LIGHTER than the rest of his face and she was willing to bet that Billy would not allow himself to hiss – and therefore sound like his father - unless he was furious enough not to notice.

"If he was so keen on teaching you, would he constantly send you to other teachers and stay behind?" Kamakura snarled back. "His oath to you predates the one he made to Hawk, yet he's hardly teaching you all he can, now is he? I may have had to request training, rather than undertake it because I wasn't given a choice, but I get to actually TRAIN! Under my own sensei! Do you REALLY think you don't remind the Young Master every time he sees you of what your father has done to him and his family? The very father you have repeatedly insisted not be killed because of your foolish hope he'll eventually be sane?"

Jinx's eyes widened. Billy's scowl darkened, he took a sharp intake of breath through his nose and most worrisome of all, he smiled viciously. At that precise moment, she would have been hard pressed to believe the young man wasn't in fact directly related to her cousin if she hadn't known any better.

"He's made it quite clear that he doesn't blame me for whose balls half my DNA happens to come from," he growled. "I must say, I wouldn't have expected you, of all people, to think the masters would judge us based on family ties. I mean… you must have had to endure unfair assumptions that Snake Eyes only took you in because your father was a friend he happened to feel he was indebted to?"

Jinx's eyes widened a bit more still: nothing in Billy's tone implied that he thought those hypothetical assumptions were right, but it made no difference on the impact of even bringing up the possibility, and it was clear from his tone that Billy had said it precisely because he knew it would hurt Sean. Kamakura hissed and launched at Billy, who avoided the first punch and skipped back, putting his prosthetic leg forward out of sheer habit.

Kamakura, for his part, was well beyond thoughts and was not fighting Billy any more; he was fighting some idiot who had implied his sensei only put up with him because of whose adopted son he was.

Jinx felt the clang was almost musical. She took another step back as Kamakura hopped backward, keeping his weight off the leg he had just kicked with. She didn't have time to wonder whether Billy was actually angry enough to lose his head too and charge as well, blissfully disregarding the fact that despite his first mistake, his brother could beat the stuffing out of him; her cousin's apprentice was on Kamakura a mere second later.

She briefly wondered whether she should stop them, but it was just too hilarious to watch – the two were messing up their poses and attacks worse than usual from their anger and looked like the ninja version of a pre-school ballet recital.

Besides, a bit of rough housing was good for bonding, right? The fact they were so cute right now had nothing to do with it, it was simple common sense that it's good for trainees to spar. She'd step in if and when Kamakura started to draw a significant amount of blood.

* * *

The command was not quite yelled, but it was certainly loud enough to be heard above the fighting, yelling and the cheering from the few Joes that were in the dojo and who had formed a small audience.

"Both of you, STOP."

As angry as he still was, Billy had had some sense knocked back into him in the form of a broken nose and a lot of bruises, and he seized the chance to end the fight before Kamakura could finish flattening him. Knowing Snake Eyes' apprentice didn't have the same motivation to stop fighting as he did, he stopped in a guarding pose. Kamakura's next hit therefore didn't do much damage.

Tommy heard Snake Eyes' pulse jump up briefly and felt the air move next to him as his brother launched for his apprentice, tackling him to the ground. Kamakura, for himself, was so pumped full of adrenaline that, although enough of his brains kicked in to prevent him from struggling against the hold, he started screaming various invectives at Billy, somehow mixing up their senseis' names in there before Snake Eyes' arm gagged him. After a few seconds of screaming into the arm, Kamakura finally relented and quieted down.

Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes leveled glares at the other Joes, who all suddenly remembered they needed to be somewhere else, and the ninjas were soon left alone in the dojo. Snake Eyes released Kamakura, who snarled at Billy, literally shaking with the repressed urge to pounce on him again, but remained where he was. Billy, completely unhelpfully, was doing his best to look calm and was coming close enough for the furious Kamakura to be fooled.

Snake Eyes clicked his tongue to draw the eyes towards him and signed to demand an explanation.

"Jinx, you're a neutral party. Why don't you do the honour?" Storm Shadow asked.

Jinx's pulse jumped up.

"There's really not much to say," she said, shrugging. "They were insulting each other, and then they started fighting."

"Fighting? You make it sound like they wanted to hurt each other, as opposed to simply sparring."

Snake Eyes signed at Storm Shadow to stop playing dumb and asked Jinx directly why she hadn't stopped the other two.

"Well, you know…" she stammered. "Boys will be boys and all…"

The double glare she got clearly showed the answer was unsatisfactory.

"I have no excuse," she tried, bowing. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Storm Shadow asked, repeating Snake Eyes' question.

"Well… for one thing, they're not my responsibility," she said defensively. "Also… they just looked too cute! They looked like toddlers putting on a ninja show!"

Storm Shadow rolled his eyes and Snake Eyes palmed his forehead, while Billy and Kamakura both turned brick red in indignation – which Jinx assumed was pretty much the only reason why their senseis were a bit calmer again.

"I think we'll need to talk about this," Storm Shadow breathed to Snake Eyes.

Snake Eyes shrugged, nodded and turned on his heels, signaling Kamakura to follow. Kamakura automatically fell into step behind him, thankfully missing out on Billy soundlessly cooing at him like he was a puppy and pretending to offer him a doggy treat.

Jinx judiciously waited for the door to be closed before turning to her cousin, who was unsuccessfully trying to look like he didn't find Billy's little show amusing.

"You always were more of a cat person," she said, smirking.

He did not reply, turning instead to his apprentice.

"Billy, you obviously have way too much pent up energy. Once you get your nose bandaged up, go run twenty laps, then come back here and we'll get you started on your training."

"Yes, Sensei," Billy said, smiling in relief at the incredibly light punishment.

"We'll see about your punishment after I've talked to my brother," Storm Shadow specified, shattering the illusion.

Billy lost his smile but still ran off.

Tommy continued to pointedly ignore Jinx and unsheathed his twin swords, launching into a kata his cousin could not remember ever even seeing, effectively reminding her that she owed both Snake Eyes and himself for a good bit of training already and that she could still learn more from them, and so, that she wanted to stay on their good side.

* * *

Billy spied a greenshirt he hadn't met yet waving at him to stop when he neared the entrance to the Pit on his fifteenth lap, and slowed down.

"General Hawk wants to see you!" the greenshirt started yelling when the young ninja apprentice got within earshot. "Right away!"

Billy stopped, his heart beating a bit quicker than could be attributed to the run. He already knew roughly what Hawk was going to tell him, but the meeting would make things official and final.

"He's in his office, come with me," the soldier said.

The young ninja apprentice shrugged and followed. He knew where Hawk's office was, but if his escort had been told to take him there, there was no reason to complicate things by trying to be independent.

The walk to the office was completely uneventful; at this time of the day, most of the base was busy and the hallways were all but empty. The greenshirt knocked on the office door.

"Sir!" he called in. "William Kessler, as requested."

"Let him in and dismissed," Hawk's voice came from the office. Billy's eye widened briefly in curiosity: the general sounded angry about something.

"You heard him," the greenshirt said. "I suggest you don't make things worse by making him wait."

"Uh? Oh, it's fine. He's not angry with ME," Billy said to the already departing soldier's back. The greenshirt shrugged without turning around and went on walking.

Billy took a deep breath to steady his nerves and entered the office to find Hawk leaning back in his chair, hands joined and looking at him with a dark scowl that rivaled Storm Shadow's.

The young man automatically felt sorry for the poor soul who had made GI Joe's commanding officer angry. He'd met Hawk before, but this moment was when he finally understood why all the Joes, including the ninjas, simply did not mess with their General. Feeling a salute was out of place since he was not a soldier, he did a quick bow.

"Sit down," Hawk said. "Do you have ANY idea what you could have caused?"

Billy's eyebrows shot up as he sat down.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I was pretty sure I wouldn't cause anything: I knew the Commander wouldn't pick up on my travelling right away. It's hard to explain, but when he found me last time, you could tell he was sick of it and ready to give up on me again. I figured he wouldn't be paying attention closely enough to find out I was 'Scott Travers' right away."

Hawk's scowl deepened and the younger man swallowed, the realization sinking in that HE was the poor idiot Hawk was angry with.

"As you are fully aware," the general said, "this Pit is relatively new: we only moved in here a little over two years ago. Don't you realize WHY we went through moving a whole operation and billions worth in technology and equipment?"

Billy nodded. "Cobra knew where the old one was," he said. "You moved when they acquired that weapon…"

"We moved when they started acquiring weaponry that represented a danger to the old location. Until then, their knowing where we were represented an acceptable risk, especially when compared to the cost and danger involved in moving. That acceptable risk was further reduced by improving security and the last few holes were fixed when Storm Shadow started working for us. By flying into New York, you could have revealed to them that we were still in the area, and not only narrow the possibilities for our exact location, but open the possibility of their targeting the whole city if they ever became desperate to eliminate us!"

"But I just told you, the Commander was fed up with me last time, he's not going to…"

"Do you think it matters how long it takes them to track you?" Hawk thundered, getting up and slamming his hands on his desk. "The trail will lead them to the same place no matter how old it is!"

Billy felt the blood drain from his face and he swallowed again. Hawk was right, of course, and if he'd stopped to think about all this for two seconds before taking off from his safe house, he would have realized it by himself. As it was, he could hardly believe he hadn't. Sure, he'd been roaring to go and he'd been sick of being tossed around and having his life on permanent hold, but that was no excuse; neither was the fact that Kamakura, with but one year of training, was a better fighter than him.

"I… I'm sorry," he said, feeling lower than dirt. "I'm an idiot, I should have…"

"I wouldn't be so angry if you WERE an idiot," Hawk said. "But you're not, you just acted like one. You were too preoccupied with your own goals to think beyond the most basic and immediate danger assessment. I understand that you've been building up frustration for over three years; I know it hasn't been easy to be on the run most of the time, even with your mother with you for the past little while. I can imagine you were too worried for her safety to enjoy her presence all that much."

The young ninja-in-training shook his head to indicate he wasn't going to try and come up with excuses. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "Did Cobra…?" he trailed off, unwilling to even finish the question.

"We sent an unmarked plane to the airport and made it take off for Boston minutes after your flight disembarked. I arranged for five different planes to leave from Boston to various locations shortly after that first plane arrived from New York. The cost for all this will be charged to you, deducted from your pay."

Billy sighed in relief.

"I feel you owe me a very big favour," Hawk continued. "Storm Shadow was so focused on the danger you put yourself in that he didn't think of Cobra picking up your trail either, and I didn't enlighten HIM."

Billy ran his hands through his hair. "Not to sound ungrateful, but I'm guessing it's going to dawn on him pretty soon. Either that or he assumes you fixed it already."

"You would have heard about it from him if he realized you could have given our location away and that the only reason you didn't was because I cleaned up your mess. I'm sure that it will occur to him or that he'll find out pretty soon, but at least he'll be a bit calmer about it all by then. You'll survive, and I won't feel sorry for you at all over whatever he does to you at that point."

Hawk sat back down and glared at the young man.

"I'm sorry," Billy repeated.

"Don't ever do this to me again," Hawk said in reply. "Now, about your status while you're here: I am hiring you as an independent agent so that you can be part of the team without going through basic training. I could have had you arrested instead, but then I would have had to waste resources to keep you contained, or to send you elsewhere and then have to find and capture you again as soon as you escaped from wherever I sent you. Hiring you is less troublesome, and if nothing else, you will keep Storm Shadow busy and hopefully, relatively out of trouble."

His interlocutor nodded. "What duties will you assign me, sir?"

Hawk sighed. "Look, I think you will eventually be a valuable asset, in fact I'm sure of it and that also played a part in my decision to hire you rather than arrest you, but you're not quite there yet. There's really nothing you can do for me on a regular basis that several of the men and women already under my command cannot do much better at this point, so I'm not assigning you any regular duties. I will let you know when I need you, and it won't necessarily be anything exciting or challenging."

Billy cast his eye down. "Understood," he said.

"Good. Now, the technical details. Uniform: I want you to get one, for visibility and recognition. I don't care if it's jeans and a t-shirt as long as you're consistent with it. You can see the QMs for that. Quarters: same as usual, you're rooming with Storm Shadow. Pay: you're on basic wages and I'm deducting 50% until the costs of your little stunt are covered. It WILL take a while. You're entitled to two weeks annual leave. Any question?"

The ninja apprentice shook his head, still reeling over how badly he had messed up, just to end up being almost useless to Hawk. "No, sir. I… I'm really sorry. I…"

"Get over it," Hawk said, not unkindly. "It's done, it's fixed, don't do it again."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

Billy gave another bow and let himself out.

* * *

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow met later that day on the roof, seeking privacy from prying ears and eyes to discuss what needed to be done with the younger members of the clan.

Snake Eyes sat on the edge, feeling, above all, that there wasn't much to discuss: Kamakura and Billy had some issues to work out, they'd be okay once they had inflicted a few bruises and maybe a couple of shallow cuts on one another. He had a sinking feeling Tommy would not see things the same way – the very fact they were meeting at all, rather than just each deciding what punishment to inflict to their own apprentice, made it look like Storm Shadow was once again blowing things out of proportion.

"You think I'm overreacting and that we should just let them beat each other up until they get it out of their system, don't you?" Tommy asked, sitting next to him.

Snake Eyes nodded.

"You do realize Billy would end up in the clinic several times, and that Kamakura might need therapy?"

Snake Eyes rolled his eyes, tilting his head back as per his usual to exaggerate the gesture and make it visible despite his visor, and signed that he was confident Kamakura had more control than that and was big enough to handle whatever insult Billy threw at him.

"Judging from this morning, I think you may want to temper your trust."

Snake Eyes shrugged, conceding that in this particular case, Kamakura had indeed lost control. He asked what Billy had said to him.

"Kamakura implied I kept sending Billy away partly because he reminded me of his father, and Billy feigned surprised that Kamakura would accuse any of us of judging our apprentices by who their father are, adding a 'guess' that some people must have wrongly thought you only took Sean in because of Wade."

Snake Eyes sagged, understanding Tommy's point a bit better: Kamakura's implication that Tommy cared whose son Billy was reflected that he was having trouble looking past the fact himself, and not only had Billy known exactly what button to push to hurt his brother, he had used it – proof that Kamakura's comments had stung him, regardless of how unfair they were.

"The core of our clan is down to just us five," Tommy said. "What few were left when the Hard Master died have long since gone on their own paths and we can't assume they would come back even if we opened the compound again."

Snake Eyes tensed a bit and Storm Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not trying to talk you into accepting a certain other apprentice," he specified, smirking. "Whether you do or not should be entirely your decision."

Snake Eyes relaxed and signed that he still thought Kamakura and Billy would sort things out eventually.

Storm Shadow scowled.

"Eventually is not good enough! I want them to have each other's backs. I want them to be brothers, not squabbling coworkers. And I also want Kimiko to realize she needs to look after them."

Snake Eyes did not need to hear anymore: Tommy had that look that almost invariably meant he was about to do something stupid, crazy or quite possibly both. He looked his brother straight in the eyes and signed that it was a bad idea.

Storm Shadow did not show any sign of being insulted at Snake Eyes assuming he had a bad idea before hearing it, or even being told he had any kind of idea. Instead, he smirked at him in a completely un-reassuring manner.

"That's why I'm going to need your help to pull it off, Brother."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Thank you for reading, and please review! I eat reviews for breakfast, and you know it's not good to skip breakfast, right?

Yes, alright, that makes no sense. But you know what I mean. :D


	3. Chapter 3: The Plan

**Chapter 3: The Plan**

Just a few minutes later, Snake Eyes was rubbing his temples, fighting off a headache.

"It's necessary to get them to be a team," Storm Shadow insisted.

Snake Eyes signed that it was the method he was having trouble with, not the goal.

"Are you objecting only because you think it would be embarrassing to need help from our apprentices?"

The silent ninja sighed and shook his head before signing that although it was indeed embarrassing, the main problem was that it was stupid.

Tommy frowned.

"It's merely unusual," he corrected. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, Brother. Besides, we can admit it was a setup once they've rescued us, and thus restore your pride."

Snake Eyes sighed again and asked whether Tommy really thought this was the best idea they could come up with to get the two boys to get along.

"I do. They will form unbreakable bonds when united in adversity."

Snake Eyes remarked the adversity in question may not have to involve Billy and Kamakura's senseis getting themselves captured by some previously unknown enemy while on a camping trip and cut off from communicating with the rest of GI Joe.

"You're still hung up on not wanting to play ninja damsel in distress."

Snake Eyes got up to better stare the other man down and signed that indeed he was because it had 'bad idea' written all over it. He added that he couldn't believe the same man who had told him off for trying to hide a wolf in his quarters for a couple of weeks was suggesting this plan.

Storm Shadow chuckled at the memory.

"You put yourself in an extremely vulnerable position back then, and sure enough, you lived to regret it. I'm not suggesting anything of the sort; I'm simply suggesting we give Kamakura and Billy the motivation they need to put their differences aside, and Jinx a reason to look after them."

Snake Eyes sighed a third time and sat back down. It was painfully obvious that Tommy would not be talked out of this one with generalities; he'd have to point out precisely why pretending to have been captured and forcing their apprentices to work together to rescue them was not going to work.

He started by signing Billy and Kamakura wouldn't believe it.

"Now, see, we wouldn't have that problem with David."

Snake Eyes crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Storm Shadow snickered.

"What do you think it would take for them to believe it?" he asked. "How about we come across some of those vicious criminals' handiwork? Maybe we can be injured? I can fake an ear infection easily enough, that'll take care of my not hearing the enemy coming."

Snake Eyes was rubbing his chin, thinking hard, before he could help himself. A tiny voice in the back of his head screamed that he was letting himself be roped in just because of the fun factor in figuring out a prank, but he ignored it: he had every intention NOT to go through with Tommy's plan if they didn't find a satisfying solution to everything that was wrong with the basic idea. He signed to approve of the ear infection and added it should happen while they're sleeping.

"How's Kamakura at guard duty? Billy's actually really observant and has better hearing than average: he'd get knocked out in two seconds if a competent ninja attacked, but he would know he was coming."

Snake Eyes gave a silent chuckled and signed that Kamakura got bored and distracted easily when on guard duty, and that failing would be a good lesson for him.

"The traces of the enemies should be old so he won't be worried and more vigilant than usual," Tommy mused. "Actually, if we're asleep and I'm temporarily almost as deaf as you, maybe we don't need any prior warning at all?"

Snake Eyes shook his head and signed that they still needed to make the capture believable by ensuring their captors were known to be dangerous.

"Known to be dangerous, you say? How about a reputation? We can tell them about an old gang that used to be trouble but hasn't been in a while, and we can hire someone to tell them some people have been making trouble in the area. Speaking of area, where should we go? I'm picturing a mountain setting."

The other ninja made a 'so-so' gesture, liking the idea of establishing a reputation rather than fabricating physical evidence, but not keen on having to rely on hired liars. In answer to Storm Shadow's question on where they should go, he signed to suggest they just find a spot somewhere in the nearest parts of Appalachians.

Two hours later, the two masters of the Arashikage clan had themselves a detailed plan to give their apprentices a very interesting camping trip indeed: they had the details of the enemies' reputed deeds down, they knew exactly when and how they would be 'captured', they had the blackmail letter to be found by their young brothers and sister composed, and they had ten trials for the apprentices to go through to rescue their senseis; ten challenges that would draw on all their respective strengths and demand teamwork to be completed successfully.

All in all, Snake Eyes was looking forward to it all way too much to be upset about having been roped into it. After all, they had all the kinks worked out now, so he was going along with a good plan rather than a bad one.

It was a shame they'd have to wait until they had proof the Commander had lost interest in Billy again before they could reasonably take Storm Shadow's apprentice away from the Pit.

* * *

"You were hoping for a big official announcement and maybe some fireworks, weren't you?" Tommy chuckled, looking at the notice that was posted on the bulletin board of the mess hall.

It was dinner time and Billy, physically exhausted by the day's training, still reeling from his conversation with Hawk and consequently feeling beyond grumpy, was glaring at the inconsequential, easy to miss piece of paper that contained a short notice that he had been hired on the Joe team.

In hindsight, he supposed the barely-there announcement followed logically from his conversation with the general: he had been hired because it was the least troublesome way of dealing with him, he couldn't expect Hawk to make a big fuss. Just the same and although he didn't care to admit it, the young man couldn't help feeling that such a major turning point in his life could have been emphasized just a little bit more.

"It's just impractical, I'm going to have people asking me when I'm off again for weeks because they won't have noticed this thing."

"Oh, don't worry, they'll notice. Roadblock still posts his announcements here when he's making a special dinner. This bulletin board is watched very carefully by everyone on the team."

Billy made a non-committal noise and focused on the food selection, smirking when he saw that the main course that day was hot dogs. As expected, Storm Shadow scowled at them disapprovingly. Billy missed out on his voicing exactly how he felt about the day's menu, however, due to a sudden outraged cry of disbelief in front of the message board, a few people back from where they were now. Billy recognized the voice as Kamakura's and scowled.

"You're kidding me!" Kamakura elaborated. "Why? What good is that…"

"Is that any way to welcome me on the team?" Billy called back, trying and failing to sound more amused than irritated.

"Obviously not," Kamukura snarled in answer.

"That goes without saying," Tommy cut in, his voice like silk. "When he gets around to it, I have no doubt Kamakura's manners will result in his welcoming you in a perfectly proper way. But Kamakura, what on Earth is so shocking on that board? Of course, I assume your outrage is not linked to the announcement concerning your brother."

Billy wisely redoubled his concentration as he examined the hot dogs and pretended to have no interest whatsoever in the exchange while listening intently: Kamakura had audibly gulped at Tommy's comment and his sensei sounded like he was using Kamakura as a distraction from the inadequate food selection.

"Of… of course not, Young Master," Kamakura stammered.

"Then what is it? Do tell, I'm terribly curious. I didn't notice anything surprising there myself, you see, and I'm worried that my powers of observation may have suddenly declined. Billy, don't you dare pick up that garbage, there's bound to be some actual food here somewhere."

Billy reined in his hand and refrained from protesting, knowing both that there was no point and that it might distract Storm Shadow from making Kamakura squirm.

"There's still no special dinner announced!" Kamakura said with the enthusiasm of a game show contestant on whom the answer to the final question just dawned. "It's been so long, I was sure there would be one today!"

Storm Shadow chuckled.

"Your pulse picked right up and you stammered your first denial, not to mention it was obvious you were delighted to have come up with an answer," he commented. "Your lying still needs a lot of work, but at least your quick thinking is improving. I trust I will not have to play dumb again over this?"

Kamakura had turned white while Storm Shadow was talking, although Billy suspected it was more because Snake Eyes had just arrived and had heard Tommy's last comment than anything else.

"No, Young Master," Kamakura said, bowing. "Thank you."

Snake Eyes glanced at the board and, easily guessing what had just happened, rolled his eyes under his visor. He really was looking forward to the two young ninjas being forced to work together.

He was distracted from lecturing Kamakura by Tommy slamming his tray down and by the resulting skidding noises from the nearest kitchen staff members backing as far away from Storm Shadow as they could. Billy stepped sideways too, futilely trying to look like he didn't know the man.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Tommy roared. "What do you mean, the only other dish today is mac and cheese?"

"Ain't nothing wrong with mac and cheese," the chef roared back from within the kitchen. "Take your meds and suck it up!"

"You know very well some people need to take those well ahead of ingesting dairy," Storm Shadow protested.

The chef came out, arms crossed and, seemingly just to complete the perfect picture of an irate chef, actually holding a wooden spoon in one of his hands.

"Yes, and I ALSO know that you, in particular, only need to wait a few minutes. I got it documented, buddy. You do NOT need advance notice. And you don't have any medical reason to refuse to eat the hot dogs, either!"

"Not being a garbage can is all the medical reason I need!"

Billy spotted Jinx and edged towards her.

"Judging from the fact the chef is not scared at all, I take it they do that often?" he asked.

Jinx nodded, grinning.

"I think you'll be hanging out with Snake Eyes or myself this evening," she said. "Tommy gets KP out of these spats every time. I don't know why he still bothers. Actually, scratch that, I do know: it's Tommy. So, back to full-time? This is going to be fun, it'll be just like back in San Francisco. Tell your mom I'm not letting her get away with aiming a gun at me again if she wants to turn up. She knows better now."

"Yeah," Billy said, smiling with a bit of nostalgia. He had good memories of the San Francisco dojo, and not only because his father had been in willing custody at the time and had looked like he wanted to actually put Cobra behind him – that hadn't lasted long; Jinx and Storm Shadow had also been running a dojo as a glorified leave of absence, technically on a long term recruitment mission, and Billy had been able to train full time again, this time with fellow students, too.

"Is Kamakura still the only other student?" he asked Jinx, careful to keep the question vague just in case it was still a touchy subject.

"Yes," Jinx answered, scowling. "Snake Eyes isn't any happier about it than Tommy, either: idiot wants to study under him instead, and he's not interested at all."

"Why not?"

"Tommy would have fifty students if he could, he's always wanted to teach, but Snake Eyes isn't the same way; he teaches because he feels like he should help pass down the clan's techniques and traditions, but he feels one full-time student at a time is enough as long as he's also a soldier. I'm not saying you were right about his being reluctant to teach Kamakura, he's not," she specified, suddenly looking deadly serious. "It says something of how highly he thinks of our brother that he's actually quite happy to have him as an apprentice."

Billy scowled at the indirect lecture. "He started it," he grumbled.

Jinx chuckled: squabbling brothers really were fun.

* * *

"Why?" Flint groaned, his elbows leaning on his desk and his head cradled in his hands. "Look, I suspect Chef actually enjoys it when you do that, but the poor junior staff…"

"They really need to toughen up," Storm Shadow said, smirking. "If they're afraid because an ally makes a bit of noise, they'll die on the spot if the base is ever under attack."

Flint glared at him. "I'm not buying that you're doing this to train their nerves or whatever other nonsense you care to come up with."

"It's not nonsense!" Storm Shadow protested with a mock pout. "But seriously, no. I just want them to start making sure there's something edible available every day."

The Warrant Officer sighed. He had escorted Storm Shadow straight from the line-up in the cafeteria to his office in an effort to make a point, but it was clear by now that all he'd achieved was to delay both their dinners.

"KP tonight," he recited. "AND tomorrow night," he added. "From now on, it's two shifts per offense."

Storm Shadow smirked again. "Totally worth it," he said. "You should have heard them skid, it was priceless."

Flint handed him the filled KP form. "As for that training trip Snake Eyes requested for the five of you," he said, "just for that, I'd be tempted to refuse."

"You do realize I'd be away for two weeks, right?" Storm Shadow asked, grinning.

"What are you really up to?" Flint asked, ignoring the quip. "You can train here just fine."

Storm Shadow lowered his eyes and took a moment to answer.

"All right," he finally said. "The fact is, I'm hoping being isolated from civilization will be a good bonding exercise for Billy and Kamakura. They… could use some bonding."

Flint chewed on it for a moment.

"And Jinx?" he asked.

"I'm trying to hook her up with one of them," Storm Shadow said.

Flint's eyebrows briefly disappeared under his beret before reappearing as the Warrant Officer scowled at the ninja.

"I don't care if she's your cousin; that is COMPLETELY inappropriate!" he said indignantly.

Storm Shadow burst out laughing, which caused Flint to sigh again and pinch the bridge of his nose as he realized the ninja had thankfully been kidding.

"Just answer the question seriously," he said.

"Bonding too," Storm Shadow said, a smirk still on his lips but otherwise serious again. "In her case, I'd like her to realize she's their big sister, not just a friendly acquaintance."

"And how do you plan on accomplishing that?"

Storm Shadow resisted scowling: Flint had the extremely annoying habit of always being on to him whenever he was up to something. He shrugged in a would-be casual way.

"Harsh training with no creature comfort," he said, conveniently omitting the plan to make the apprentices 'rescue' Snake Eyes and himself by overcoming planted obstacles. "People tend to bond when they share the same hardships."

"Defining 'dangerous' as something that non-ninjas, like me, would find dangerous, will any part of this trip be dangerous for anybody?"

"No," Storm Shadow answered honestly. "There could be minor injuries, but no worse than in any training exercise: bruises, shallow cuts… nothing serious."

"Fine," Flint sighed. "But I swear, if I end up regretting this…"

"Thank you," Storm Shadow said, cutting off the threat. "Of course we wouldn't leave right now."

"I'm glad you realize that. We'll talk again when it starts looking safe for Billy to go away for a while, ninja protectors or not."

"My thoughts exactly, but Snake Eyes and I both felt we should give you advanced notice so that you may mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the painful separation."

"Right," Flint chuckled. "Dismissed and don't forget you're doing KP tonight AND tomorrow."

Storm Shadow snapped to attention with exaggerated zeal and gave an embellished salute. "Yes, Sir!"

Flint decided not to dignify the theatrics with a response. The dismissal was pure formality anyway, as the officer followed the ninja right out of the office, both of them heading back to the cafeteria.

* * *

Kamakura frowned in puzzlement, trying to remember what other signs in ASL could be confused for 'camping trip' and would make sense in the context of his Sensei telling him that they were going somewhere. Not finding any, he looked down and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I'm very sorry, Sensei, I didn't catch that. Could you please repeat where we are going?"

"The five of us will be going on a camping and training trip as soon as we deem it safe," Storm Shadow repeated instead without looking up. He was just about done piling the small group's empty dinner dishes on his tray in a delicately balanced construction of plates, cups, glasses and bowls.

Kamakura's eyes widened. A glance at Jinx and Billy revealed they were just as shocked as he was.

"We're going CAMPING?" Jinx asked. "Why? We have everything we need here to train, and then some!"

"Training trips in the mountains are a long standing tradition for all martial artists," Storm Shadow replied, looking up now that his dinnerware architecture project was completed. "There are endless benefits to forsaking modern amenities, interacting directly with nature and training through heat and cold, blazing sun and pelting rain. Also, making do with minimal equipment helps one connect more intimately with one's body."

"So, in other words, you figure roughing it will toughen us up?" Billy asked.

Snake Eyes nodded and added that being all together but otherwise alone would strengthen their bonds.

"But, Sensei," Kamakura said hesitantly, "what if we're needed here?"

Snake Eyes signed that they wouldn't go very far and that they would stay in contact with the Pit so that they could be reached in case of emergencies.

"They will survive without us for a couple of weeks," Storm Shadow added. "They used to make do with Snake Eyes alone and for a while, he hardly ever got to do anything else than keep ME in check. We are not so essential that the World or even just GI Joe will crumble in our absence."

"You actually expect me to share a tent with these two?" Jinx protested. "Two eighteen-year old males?"

"I'm nineteen," Kamakura protested.

"My point remains," Jinx said.

Storm Shadow rolled his eyes. "Of course not, Kimiko; I expect you to bring your own tent. Are there any other nonsensical objections?"

Jinx, Kamakura and Billy thought hard for a minute or so, but could come up with nothing that had any chance of swaying the two masters of the clan.

"Wonderful," Storm Shadow said with a broad smile when they all remained quiet. "We'll let you know as soon as we decide on the when. I best be going, duty calls," he added with a theatrical sigh, getting up. He picked up his tray with one hand and balanced it on his palm. The precarious construction of dishes did not so much as rattle as he made his way to the kitchen.

The three junior ninja campers mumbled acknowledgements and got up as well.

Snake Eyes signed at Kamakura and Billy to head for the dojo, invited Jinx to join them, and the four were off.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Sorry this took a while, I'm having to rewrite a little. Thanks for reading and please review. :D

Thanks again to Asterisk78 for beta-ing this. Your help is much appreciated. :)


	4. Chapter 4: The Sidelines

**Chapter 4: The Sidelines**

"Why look at you! You're not shaking at all this morning!" Jinx said brightly upon joining Billy near the PT course, slapping him on the back.

Billy further impressed her by not falling. It was a close thing.

"Yeah, only took three weeks to get used enough to constant exhaustion to be able to control that," he replied. "Turns out the trick is to put most of my weight on my right leg."

"Enough with the chit-chat!" Beach Head bellowed from a few steps away. Jinx, Billy and everyone else around quieted and turned their attention to the Sergeant Major, who was standing proudly in front of his newly updated obstacle course.

"Alright. I got some nice new improvements for all of you. Some you can see from where you are," he pointed to the taller climbing wall, "some you can't." He chuckled at that. "Volunteers to go first?"

"He is," Storm Shadow said from next to Billy, dragging his apprentice's hand up. "I won't pass up the chance to let you run an unknown course," he added quietly to Billy.

Billy kept his expression and body language carefully in check as he trotted along to the starting line, quickly joined by Kamakura.

"Well look at that, the baby spooks are going to demonstrate," Beach Head said. "All right, both of you… GO!"

The two ninja students took off like rockets, which didn't deter Beach Head from bellowing at them through the whole course.

Kamakura took the lead early on and kept increasing it little by little right until the last mudpit, which started out three feet deep but suddenly sunk to four and a half feet right after a trip wire. Snake Eyes' apprentice recovered from tripping on the wire, but not from suddenly having no ground under his feet: he fell forward and although his recovery time was spectacular, Billy took advantage of being forewarned of the trap and jumped the wire with the full knowledge that the mud was deeper on the other side. Not falling allowed him to gain back most of Kamakura's lead and to finish a mere two seconds behind.

Beach nodded at them. "Not bad," he said almost grudgingly. He turned to the rest of the group and pointed at Billy. "You're going to let the civvie show you up? Come on, next two. MOVE!"

There were a few grumbles about the civilian in question being almost a ninja.

"Are you implying that half-baked spooks are better than all of you?" Beach Head bellowed, cutting off the protests. "You're all supposed to be elite! I swear, sometimes I don't see how any of you even survived basic training! Get your lazy…"

"I must admit, Kamakura, I'm guessing you did just fine in basic training," Billy said, tuning Beach Head out.

Kamakura frowned. "I don't even want to know where you're going with that," he said.

"No, really!" Billy protested. "Didn't you?"

"I'm here, ain't I?"

"Yeah, you must have loved it. I hope the separation wasn't too difficult."

"What's that supposed to mean? What separation?"

"Why, from your drill sergeant," Billy replied, feigning surprise. "I can see it from here," he continued, laying the back of his hand against his forehead in a theatrical pose and adopting a melodramatic tone. "Oh, sergeant! Whatever shall I become without your guidance? How will I know when to swallow? Or when to…"

"Oh, ha, ha," Kamakura said, interrupting him. The skin around his eyes had turned red in anger, and his voice had lowered to a growl. "I suppose you would see it as something to be mocked that I actually respect authority figures. Why would you know any better? You never grew out of being a selfish, self absorbed little brat!"

Billy didn't get a chance to answer: both apprentices were suddenly off their feet and dangling uncomfortably in mid-air, following Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes lifting and holding them by the back of their respective uniforms.

"That's quite enough," Storm Shadow said. "You're being disruptive. Again."

"Ah come on! Let them fight!" Clutch said, calling over his shoulder. He was, for reasons best left unexplained, facing Ace rather than the ninjas or Beach Head and the PT course.

"Meh," Ace said, shrugging and giving Clutch a significant look. "Why? It gets boring to just watch Kamakura win every time."

"It's also getting old," Duke said, stomping towards the still hanging culprits. "Almost every day for three weeks now! I'm getting really sick of giving you punishment duty! Guard duty tonight, ALL night. Maybe you'll be too tired tomorrow to make trouble."

On cue, Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes let their apprentices go, letting them fall back to the ground and bow in apology.

"Yes, Duke," they both said.

"Ah, see?" Storm Shadow asked Snake Eyes. "That was almost perfectly timed. I told you they could work in harmony."

Snake Eyes snorted silently and PT resumed, Beach Head happily yelling at everybody until the alarm went off, instructing everyone to go to the air field for immediate debriefing and deployment.

Billy grinned as he ran with the others, eager to finally see some action.

* * *

The air field filled up remarkably quickly, the team being well aware that alarms were no joke and that a quick reaction often very literally saved lives.

"What appear to be Cobra's full forces have been engaged by the National Guard and the army while they were, as best as we can tell from the direction they were going, headed for Boston. They were intercepted here, in farm country," Hawk said, pointing at a red X on the map behind him. "We're leaving now by air to go assist in the fight. I will be communicating the details on the way. Breaker, Mainframe, Greenshirts in barracks A to C, you're staying here under the command of Leatherneck. Kessler, that goes for you too. Everyone else, to your default rapid deployment air units."

Billy's mouth fell open.

"He doesn't want to chance my having to look after you," Storm Shadow explained next to him, "and you're not familiar enough with the team protocols yet. There's no need to be insulted, you're simply not quite ready. While I'm gone, practice with your bow, throwing spikes and shurikens once you've done your normal routine."

Tommy didn't wait for an answer and trotted off with the other Joes towards the various fighter jets and transport planes. Billy watched the crowd move around him, most of them getting on the move to go fight Cobra while he just stood there uselessly. Understandably given the urgent situation, people went around him without really registering his presence, paying no more attention to him than they would an inanimate object standing in their way.

He avoided looking in Kamakura's direction and left the air field feeling distinctly disgruntled. He had joined precisely so he'd be able to help against his father instead of having to hide. Staying behind, safely tucked away in the Pit while the Joes went to battle against Cobra, had not at all been part of his plan.

Kamakura, partly out of sympathy but mostly because he was pretty sure anything else would invite more punishment duty or plain punishment from his Sensei, took off as well without a glance or a word at his clan brother.

Jinx brushed past him and treated him to a smirk. "That was very impressive self control just now," she said. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kamakura snorted. "Poor baby's already all upset. Didn't want to make him bawl."

Jinx chuckled and the two split to head for their respective assigned transport planes. For her and Storm Shadow, that meant getting on the same plane as Hawk; Kamakura and Snake Eyes, on the other hand, followed Stalker.

The silent ninja and his apprentice sat with several other Joes in the passenger section of the plane while Stalker went straight to the cabin to join the pilot. The ranger immediately opened the radio at the appropriate frequency, and Hawk's voice came out of it moments later.

"All right; we have no idea what they're up to, so a show of power is our best guess. We need to stop them before they reach their target, whatever it is. As I said earlier, the National Guard managed to intercept them in farm country; the army is already there, we're going in as additional reinforcement."

"Yeah, if there's anything left to reinforce," Beach Head grunted. "The army went in with the assumption they wouldn't last long."

"I just received a report," Duke chimed in, "They're doing a lot better than they expected. Cobra's in-fighting, apparently."

"Good to hear," said Hawk. "Unit leaders; here's the plan of action…"

* * *

Kamakura almost felt like he'd been left behind too: by the time he landed on the battlefield, there was hardly anything left to do. He clenched his jaw and cast his eyes around, looking for anything he could do to make the trip here at least worthwhile. He spotted a mixed group of BATs and Vipers a bit further to his left that seemed to be giving trouble to the soldiers they were fighting. Taking his swords out, he ran straight for them.

He aimed for the BATs first – against those, swords actually worked better than bullets because the androids could withstand having a lot of holes poked into them and their armours were bullet-proof, but they did not fare quite as well when chopped in several pieces: the pieces tended to keep moving, but a torso wriggling on the ground was generally not much of a threat provided you made sure the limbs that belonged to it were out of reach or unsalvageable.

He had one of the five androids dismembered and slashed through vertically before the other four noticed him and started shooting at him. He dodged under the bullets and smiled: the BATs were now concentrating on him, which meant the other soldiers would be able to deal with the Vipers.

Kamakura dove sideways to avoid a new volley of bullets and slashed off the hands of the nearest two BATs: it took a second for the machines to adapt to their hands suddenly being stand alone units, and Kamakura used that second to kick the guns away. The hands could not see, which although it never stopped them from shooting, would prevent them from finding their lost weapons. He leapt over the bullets coming from the other two BATs, blessing the machines' relatively slow reaction time that meant each time they shot at him, it took them almost a full second to see he was still alive and decide to try shooting again.

He had the last two robots disarmed a moment later, and the immediate threat of multiple bullets flying at him eliminated, he started with the fun part of fighting the battle android troopers: slicing and dicing.

By the time he was done, the surviving Vipers had surrendered or fled. Kamakura stood grinning under his mask and sheathed his blades with a flourish.

A strong whack on the back of his head almost sent him tumbling. He turned with his head down, knowing full well who had snuck up on him. The only thing that kept him from starting on an apology right away was honesty: he had no idea what had earned him the slap.

Snake Eyes clicked his tongue disapprovingly and pointed at his apprentice's left leg. Kamakura looked down and his eyes widened: he'd been grazed rather deeply by one of the BAT's bullets and was bleeding freely. The pain hit as soon as he was aware of the injury, pushing through the last of his adrenalin rush.

Snake Eyes rolled his eyes and pushed down on the young man's shoulder, making him sit, before taking out a roll of gauze, kneeling and wrapping up the injury. Kamakura could have done it himself, but Snake Eyes hoped the embarrassment of being tended to would give his apprentice an extra bit of motivation to be more careful next time he jumped head first into a cluster of Vipers and BATs. He carefully kept his gestures a bit abrupt, glad Sean could not see the smile under his mask – injured or not, the young ninja had still done his sensei proud.

* * *

"You're making me waste my time, you know that?" Leatherneck called out from the dojo's doorway.

"What do you mean?" Billy asked, not stopping his kata. "I've just been here training. Was I supposed to report to you and you've been looking for me?"

"I came here to tell you to stop moping and work harder," Leatherneck replied. "You were sulking like a stinking pre-schooler when the team left."

Billy scowled but resisted any other reaction, automatically launching into the next kata when he finished the one he'd been doing.

"I'm not happy to stay behind," he replied, sparing Leatherneck a look when his movements happened to allow it. "You can't tell me YOU are."

"I hate it when I'm the one stuck guarding the fort," Leatherneck replied, "but it's no good complaining about it, someone's got to do it and it's going to be my turn every now and then. That's got nothing to do with you."

Billy's frown deepened. The day was already rotten; he could have done without a lecture on having a perfectly honest reaction to a bit of bad news. It wasn't like he'd gone to sit in a corner and cry instead of training. He'd taken pain to apply a concentration technique he had learned from Storm Shadow back in the Water Tower, one his sensei had used himself almost daily to stop his mind from dwelling on what he thought were false memories sent by people trying to brainwash him – completely oblivious to the fact they were actually real memories breaking through the brainwash he HAD endured.

Billy couldn't begin to figure out what the Marine's problem was. He knew Leatherneck couldn't stand slackers and bunched whiners in with them, reasoning they should be working harder rather than wasting time and energy complaining, but Billy felt he hadn't really done any of that.

He finished his kata and stopped, resigned to the fact he'd have to start the whole set over. He faced Leatherneck and did his best not to look as annoyed as he felt.

"I'm all ears," he said. "What's it going to be, fifty push-ups for wanting to go fight and make myself useful?"

"Watch the lip, kiddo," Leatherneck growled in response. "What I was saying was," he continued, his tone gradually returning to normal, "I came over here to tell you to stop sulking and to work hard so you'd be ready to join the fight next time. I get here and you're already doing that. Total waste of my time."

Billy sagged a bit. "Sensei thought me how to set emotional distractions aside," he said. "If it's any consolation for wasting your time, I have to re-do this set, now. I'm not supposed to stop before I'm finished."

Leatherneck barked a laugh. "Well then you shouldn't have stopped, should you? Get to it, kid."

Billy rolled his eyes at his back as the Marine finally left the dojo. The door was no sooner closed on Leatherneck that the sergeant's voice boomed as he started very loudly lecturing a greenshirt who'd had the bad luck of being caught looking idle. Billy's mouth twitched as the ninja in training found himself torn between amusement and guilt – it was obvious Leatherneck was simply taking out his disappointment over having been denied an excuse to scream at him. Guilt won out mostly because he was too annoyed at the interim commander to be amused by much anything.

He tuned the noise out when the ex-drill instructor ordered the greenshirt to drop and give him a hundred. He took a deep breath and started going through the same refocusing technique he'd used earlier; the urge to throw something at Leatherneck (like, say, Kamakura) was almost completely gone by the time he started his first kata again, a few minutes later.

* * *

The way back to the Pit was much more cheerful than the way down – there had hardly been any casualties among the National Guard or within the army, and GI Joe itself had only suffered minor injuries.

Hawk was not taking part in the celebratory and tension letting banter; he had his headphones on and was talking into his radio, his face showing more puzzlement than anything else.

"He just finally lost it?" Duke hazarded through the com link.

"Maybe," Flint said from a third location. "Something's up, that's for sure."

Hawk turned around to glance at Storm Shadow and smirked: as he had guessed, the ninja was uncharacteristically quiet. "Any theory, Storm Shadow?" he asked. The main reason he kept the ninja in his transport on such occasion was precisely to get an insider's point of view on Cobra.

Tommy shook his head and, taking the question as an invitation to join the conversation, got up and came to sit in an empty seat next to the General. Jinx cocked her head but stayed put, engaged in a lively debate with some of the other Joes on the relative levels of incompetence of the different Cobra units.

"I agree with what you were saying earlier," Storm Shadow said. "The attack was thrown together very quickly. They didn't even have a proper retreat plan."

"So what would make the Commander do that?" Flint asked, his voice coming in loud and clear to Storm Shadow through the headphones Hawk was wearing.

"I'd say desperation," Storm Shadow said. "He'd never mount such a poorly planned attack unless he had to. The man makes detailed plans with three contingency back-up plans for brushing his teeth."

Hawk nodded. "Yes, but what made him desperate?"

"I think we need to have some long chats with the prisoners," Duke said. Hawk nodded again, grimly. Interrogating Cobra prisoners was more often than not an exercise in futility: they hardly ever knew anything. Even when they thought they did, it usually turned out their employer had fed them misinformation.

* * *

Interrogations were conducted through the rest of the day and part of the night. Hawk found the two ninjas waiting by his office door when he came in the next morning. He raised an eyebrow but gestured them in.

"You've been listening in on the interrogations," the General said as soon as his door was closed.

"Attentively," Storm Shadow confirmed, sounding prouder than apologetic.

"Custodial Punitive Duty for ten hours in three days, both of you," Hawk replied. "Now what can I do for you? Do sit."

He sat down himself, imitated by the ninjas.

"Thank you, Sir," Storm Shadow said with a smirk, "I was frankly expecting worse that having to do some mopping over the next three days. Not that I'm ASKING for worse, of course. I'm merely expressing my eternal gratitude for your wisdom and fairness."

Snake Eyes clicked his tongue at his brother and signed that they'd gotten the impression from the interrogations that Cobra was in disarray, with some of the higher ups seemingly trying to overthrow the Commander and the troops' loyalties divided.

Hawk leaned his elbows on his desk, hands joined in front of his chin and brow furrowed. "You are not to discuss those impressions with anyone. Our intelligence experts are still analyzing the prisoners' responses and we don't have any official findings yet."

Storm Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that it is not yet considered bleeding obvious that the troops aren't sure who to obey anymore and that Destro, the Baroness and Mindbender have been engaged in a smear campaign against the Commander, causing him to throw together a desperate attack in the hopes of reasserting his authority and ambitions?"

Hawk frowned. "We can't conclude we're not being intentionally led to believe that yet," he said.

Snake Eyes sighed.

"They weren't acting," Storm Shadow said, keeping his voice carefully in check. As far as he was concerned, Cobra was a mess at the moment and the Commander would have to concentrate on getting his organization back under control for a while. It was the perfect time for the trip they had planned and he couldn't stand the thought of being denied by an overly cautious Hawk.

Snake Eyes nodded in agreement, sharing his brother's feelings on the situation and how they could benefit from it. Three weeks of dealing with warring apprentices had been quite enough for his liking.

Hawk's eyes widened briefly and he chuckled.

"You want to go on that camping trip," he guessed. He suddenly became serious again. "You promised Flint that there would be no serious injuries. I assume you WILL be careful while you're putting your apprentices through whatever it is you have planned?"

Snake Eyes nodded energetically.

"Of course," Storm Shadow agreed.

"Our experts will be analyzing the interrogation tapes and the field reports from the battle for a few days. I'll get back to you when they have some answers. If Cobra is in as much of a mess as they seem to be, those few days won't make a difference."

* * *

Four days later, Snake Eyes waved a set of five permission slips over the dinner table and signed that they were leaving in five days.

"Except me," Storm Shadow specified, grinning. "I'll leave a couple of days ahead to find a good site. This is going to be grand!"

Jinx rolled her eyes but otherwise refrained from making any response. Kamakura sighed resignedly, and Billy, a fresh bruise blooming on his cheek from his latest spat with Kamakura less than an hour earlier, dropped his head between his arms on the table.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Well, the apprentices are united in not wanting to go camping, at least!

Thanks for reading, and please remember that reviews make me very, very happy!

Many thanks to Asterisk78 for beta-ing and helping with some details. :D


	5. Chapter 5: Ninja Road Trip

Ch**apter 5: Ninja Road Trip**

Valleytown was your typical middle-of-nowhere village: nestled at the foot of one of Connecticut's smaller mountains, as of yet undiscovered by tourists, it had almost exactly one thousand inhabitants, including: a mayor who had been at his post for well over twenty year, a mom and pop running the local market, a rich family who used to own the one bank in town and who had sold it out to a national chain, a postman who was also a real estate agent because neither job was enough to keep him busy, a bar where women were technically welcomed but hardly ever went, and one greasy spoon restaurant owned by an old widow and mostly ran by her daughter and son, and that prided itself on its clam chowder. There was also, much to everyone else's chagrin, a local villain: James Winslow.

Jim Winslow was bad news. In fact, most Valleytowners would have stated without hesitation that the man was downright evil. Needless to say, they were never sorry to see him getting dragged back to jail. He kept getting out, however, because although most people suspected –knew – that he was guilty of worse things, the only charges that ever stuck were petty thefts and misdemeanours. Each time he got caught, Valleytown was at peace for a few months and then he was back terrorizing everyone else in the village and the rest of the county.

Predictably, everyone gave him a wide berth and largely ignored him when he was at the local bar for a drink. Today was no exception, and he was duly enjoying the effect his mere presence had on people: they were nervous, any chance of just enjoying a fun time gone. That was power, right there. Most people would have found it insignificant that he could make villagers nervous when he was also part of the most respected and dreaded group of mercenaries in the world, but as insignificant as it was, it was his and his alone. These people didn't even know about his job, they were scared of him for his own self: Jim Winslow the terror of Valleytown.

His good mood dropped like a rock off a bridge when a stranger came hobbling in the bar, leaning heavily on a thick branch and looking as though he had gotten into a fight with a pack of cranky bears. It wasn't that all eyes went straight to the stranger, depriving him of the quick shifty stolen glances, but the man's identity: his boss's prey, the one every mercenary in Firefly's employ learned to recognize on sight and through nearly any disguise thanks to hours spent studying videos and pictures.

By all appearances, Tommy Arashikage, aka Storm Shadow, aka The Young Master, had just been figuratively dropped on Jim Winslow's lap. Winslow was no optimist, however, and automatically assumed the deadly ninja was here for him. He put his hand on the handle of his gun and otherwise stayed very still, ready for action if his assumption turned out to be correct.

* * *

As per the plan Snake Eyes and himself had concocted, Tommy had left two days ahead of the others under the pretence of scouting up a good camp site. Still as planned, what he was really doing was planting a rumour about a dangerous gang in the mountains, that was prone to kidnapping good fighters.

Deception and disguise were vital tools for ninjas, and among Storm Shadow's favourites. The ninja had never bothered denying this predilection had as much to do with the fun factor as with practicality and efficiency.

Right now, for instance, he was not only advancing their scheme forward and taking a step towards making the apprentices bound as brothers, he was also having a grand time. Ripping his clothes just so and applying the make up all over his face and body to fake injuries had been like an art project, and the actual acting he was doing now was a blast. It also seemed to be working like a charm: all eyes were on him, most looking quite horrified.

He made his eyes glaze over and shifted his weight to his stick a bit, faking a loss of balance and a near loss of consciousness, just as he opened his mouth to talk. The closest man reacted just like Tommy wanted him to and grabbed him.

"Whoa there, buddy!" the man said. "Stay with us. Here, sit down. Someone bring something to drink!"

As the man talked, he guided Tommy to a chair and let him collapse on it. Storm Shadow promptly flopped his upper body on the table and moaned. A pint of beer appeared in front of him. He resisted wrinkling his nose at the smell, bit back a sarcastic comment on the wisdom of providing a man in his condition with alcohol, and lifted himself up just enough to take a drawn out sip designed to look as though he'd taken more than he had. It took all his acting skills to resists gagging – he only ever drank when social circumstances forced him to, and then typically limited himself to sake and a few other spirits he was used to and that could be nursed for a whole evening without raising suspicions. He had tasted beer exactly twice before, and this was the very first time he had successfully swallowed any. The horrible taste lingered in his mouth, feeling a bit like a low grade acid.

"Oh yeah," he sighed appreciatively. "I needed that." He took another long sip for good measure before he continued, this time suppressing a cough. "Man… did the county ask for the state troopers' help yet, do you know?"

"Help with what?" someone asked, right on cue. "What happened to you?"

Storm Shadow painted a disbelieving impression on his face.

"What… what happened to me?" he stuttered. "You mean they didn't get anyone from here yet?"

Understandably since he was making the whole thing up, Tommy's question was met with blank stares.

"Huh," he snorted. "You've been lucky. The Glaive happened to me."

He glared at his glass, mostly just because it felt like he'd still be expected to have some kind of interaction with it and he certainly didn't want it to make contact with his lips again.

"What the devil's The Glaive?" a voice spoke up, carrying an unmistakable tone of authority. "Speak up, kid."

Storm Shadow turned to the voice and raised his eyebrows, acting as though he hadn't already guessed the speaker would be wearing some kind of law enforcement uniform – in this case, a badge and a visible gun. Figuring he wouldn't be in the mood to argue about being called 'kid' if he were as beat up as he was pretending to be, he ignored the appellation.

"It's a gang," he replied. "They hang out in the mountain and attack passers-by. I can't believe nobody here's run into them yet…" he trailed off and, figuring it would be expected, forced another bit of the beer down, once more willing himself not to cough it right back up. He felt his eyes beginning to water and closed them, leaning back and sighing contentedly.

"I've never enjoyed a beer so much in my life," he declared. "I NEEDED that. Are you sure you never heard of The Glaive? Really?"

He heard a bit of muttering and opened his eyes again to see most of the crowd shaking their heads or looking slightly embarrassed. He shook his own head in mock disbelief and made eye contact with his beer again.

"Back in Hillview, I don't think I met anyone who didn't warn me about them," he said. "You guys have been real lucky up to now. You better be careful."

This was of course a blatant lie: obviously, nobody in Hillview had known about The Glaive either before he'd pull much the same act on them this morning as he was pulling on the good people here now.

"Why are they attacking people?" the local law enforcement guy asked. "What are they, pickpockets?"

Storm Shadow held back a satisfied smirk: he had been hoping for the question. He composed a grim air and took out his wallet. Under every eye in the place, he opened it, flipped it upside down and shook the content out on the table, letting bills, coins and a couple of receipts planted there for realism fall to the table in what he felt was a nicely dramatic way, further enhanced by the noise the coins made. One of the coins even obligingly rolled off the table in a long lazy arc. Most eyes followed it until it finally fell flat on the floor.

"No," he said in a low tone designed to up the drama a bit more still. "They don't want people's cash, they just want to fight. I'm in good shape, so I was a prime target for them. They drew to determine who'd get to fight me one-on-one, and the winner took about twenty seconds to leave me on the ground, barely conscious. I must have been lying there for nearly an hour. But you know what? I was LUCKY. They don't beat up on strangers just for the fun of it: they're looking for good fighters to abduct. They make THEM fight in nightly tournaments, with rich bastards watching and betting. Man, I must have lost a good bit of blood; that beer is going straight to my head."

"You got descriptions?" the man with the badge asked.

Storm Shadow shook his head. "They wear masks. I hate to be rude, but I actually came in to see if there was somewhere around I could get patched up?"

The closest clinic was on the other end of the village and he knew it, having made sure of the fact before choosing the local booze hole to make his grand entrance.

"The clinic's on Sunny Drive, you turn left a few blocks that way," one of the men present said, pointing in the appropriate direction. "Do you need a ride?"

"No thanks," Storm Shadow said, getting up while leaning heavily on the table. "I can't even finish my beer, I'm feeling sick. I need some air, I'll walk. My legs are actually almost okay. I'll head to your police station after, okay?"

He ignored the repeated offers and shambled his way out of the bar, going towards the clinic. All he had left to do was to sneak out of this village and let the gossip grow between this one and Hillview. In the meantime, it was time he actually went and found a camping site suitable for his and Snake Eyes' purposes.

* * *

Snake Eyes rolled his eyes under his visor and briefly debated the relative merits of just throwing down a smoke bomb and taking off in the car by himself, leaving both apprentices behind at the Pit. As tempting as the immediate satisfaction was, however, indulging this particular fantasy was out of the question as it would completely defeat the purpose of the trip.

Had it been necessary, the last two days would have thoroughly finished converting him to Tommy's point of view that their respective apprentices needed to get along better. Looking after them both since Storm Shadow had left had been trying to say the least.

They were both very good students, and although Billy wasn't much for decorum, bordering on irreverence at times, he was actually sometimes quicker than Kamakura to follow instructions, most notably the ones that involved painful exercises. It wasn't that Kamakura tried to get out of those, but Billy jumped on them. Snake Eyes had decided after the third incidence that he had to know just what Tommy had been doing to the poor kid to make him that prompt and to maybe steal a few tricks. However, as good students as they were, right now Snake Eyes was fighting the urge to strangle them both.

Adults. They. Were. Adults! One didn't expect adults to argue about which seat they would take in the car, especially not in front of everyone in the motor pool and therefore dreadfully embarrassing the person in charge.

Jinx had volunteered to go in the back, citing that she didn't need much leg room, but Billy and Kamakura had both refused to go in the back with her, for no reason other than an irritating attempt at establishing some kind of pecking order. After a few minutes of debate, Snake Eyes decided he was going to keep one of them busy for the length of the ride rather than try and drive with a constant argument going on and decreed that Kamakura was driving and Billy sitting in the back. To lessen the blow on Billy, he explained a one-eyed driver would draw attention they could easily avoid by getting Kamakura to drive.

He then pointed to the car tapping his foot, a perfect picture of irritation, and the three got in at their assigned places with record speed. He turned to level a glare at Clutch, who was sniggering and looking altogether too amused by the altercation.

"Hey, Snake Eyes," Cover Girl called out. "Did you remember to bring them some colouring books and some snacks?"

Clutch, along with most everyone else in the motor pool, started laughing out loud. Snake Eyes levelled a glare at the tank jokey, with no effect whatsoever. He narrowed his eyes under his visor and settled for deflecting the humiliation on the two sources of it. He signed a thank you for the advice, but added that the kids needed to be disciplined and would therefore get neither toys nor snacks.

The comment made everyone laugh even harder and a slightly cheered up ninja master got into the passenger seat.

* * *

"What did Sensei tell you to rope you into this?" Billy asked from the backseat, breaking the blessed silence that had reigned in the car for about two minutes.

Snake Eyes, Jinx and the two apprentices were driving down to the agreed rendezvous point with Storm Shadow, and Snake Eyes could not wait to be there. They had been on the road for about half an hour now, and Billy had been channelling his sensei and chatting for most of that time. In itself, that wouldn't have been too bad; most of Billy's conversation, however, was centered on questioning the trip and its purpose.

The topic was an unwelcomed one for two reasons: one, it made it obvious that Tommy's apprentice suspected a scheme and two, Kamakura felt questioning the Masters' instructions was unacceptable and had therefore been telling Billy off, proving the strategy of making him drive to keep him too occupied to pick a fight with his brother completely ineffectual. Snake Eyes knew this latest query would set off his apprentice again, so he signed his answer – a denial that he'd been roped in and a demand that Billy not imply he had no will of his own - as quickly as possible, hoping reacting himself would defuse Kamakura.

Billy's one remaining eye widened. "That's not what I meant," he said, sounding hurt.

"It's what you said," Kamakura growled from the driver's seat.

Jinx sighed and rolled her eyes, the book she'd buried herself in for most of the trip opened on her lap; she had put it down to follow the conversation when Billy had asked how her cousin had convinced Snake Eyes to go along with this trip, curious to know the answer.

Billy nodded a thank you at her through the scowl he was directing towards the front of the car; he would have thought Snake Eyes and even Kamakura would realize, like Jinx, that he'd never accuse someone of not having any free will. He'd seen what being robbed of one's will looked like, and his greatest wish was to never see it again.

"No, it's not," he growled right back at Kamakura. "People with no free will don't need to be roped into stuff, they just do whatever they're told. There's a big difference. I just can't believe our masters both really think…" Billy stopped upon the one master present clicking his tongue.

Snake Eyes had had enough. He signed to demand silence and to promise that if either of them said another word before they arrived, he would bind and gag them both with duct tape.

The two apprentices thankfully realized that the threat was serious and snapped their mouths shut. Jinx snorted before breaking into a full laugh, but Snake Eyes turned in his seat to glare straight at her and she became quiet too, going as far as putting her book back in front of her face to hide her grin.

* * *

Snake Eyes thoroughly enjoyed the last bit of the car trip. They finally arrived at the rendezvous point to see a grinning and waving Tommy seated at one the picnic tables of the little rest area.

Snake Eyes climbed out of the car and stretched. Tommy cocked his head, easily picking up on the bigger ninja's unexpected calm.

"I must admit that I'm impressed, Brother," he remarked. "I was expecting you to be in a sour mood by now."

Snake Eyes shrugged and admitted he hadn't realized he'd be babysitting for two days, but that finding a solution did wonders for the nerves.

Storm Shadow raised an eyebrow. "A solution?"

Snake Eyes chuckled silently. Jinx, who had joined them, laughed out loud and pointed at the two apprentices, who were hanging back slightly, somehow managing to look embarrassed about the conversation while still glaring at each other.

"Turns out they're in no hurry to get all wrapped up in duct tape," she explained, grinning.

Storm Shadow snorted. "Noted," he said. "Now," he added, suddenly serious again. "We're going to go to a village called Hillview first. They have a decent grocery store, we'll stock up. We'll then head for camp; I figure we'll be there sometimes tonight. It's set up already, so don't worry about putting up the tents in the dark."

Jinx's eyes had widened. "Did you just say we were almost a full day's walk away from camp?"

"Of course not," Storm Shadow replied, smirking. "A full day would be 24 hours; that would take us to tomorrow morning, not sometimes tonight."

Jinx groaned and adjusted her backpack, resigned. Billy, who was not particularly surprised at the hike – Storm Shadow had started their master-student relationship by making him walk for almost as long from Springfield to New York, after all – did the same with his own, without a word. Kamakura followed suit and in short order, the group of five was on their way.

Storm Shadow adjusted his pace to Snake Eyes, letting the other three lag behind slightly. "So…" he asked in a whisper, "how long after I left did Scarlett finally voice her feelings on this trip? She's been so quiet for the past week I've been worried for her health."

Snake Eyes signed that she had been arguing with him about the trip on a daily basis ever since she had found out about it; just not in front of the apprentices.

"Or in front of me," Storm Shadow remarked with a chuckle. "So, she didn't want to question your judgment in front of your student, and she didn't want me to argue back while she was trying to talk you out of it. I'm glad she didn't succeed in making you change your mind."

Snake Eyes chuckled silently and signed that after the first couple of days, she had been just as tired of the two quarrelling boys as anyone else and had switched to arguing about the particulars rather than about the general idea.

"So that's where your new ideas were coming from for the past little while?"

Snake Eyes nodded.

"Ideas for what?" Billy asked, having edged closer and overheard the last part. "Campfire songs? Aren't we just going to train in the rain or something?"

"For crying out loud!" Kamakura exploded, catching up to Billy and grabbing him by his collar. "Don't you EVER show any respect?"

Billy's eye widened. "What are you on about now? I just asked a question! Oh, wait..." he mused, looking like the truth had just dawned on him. "I forgot to bow to the ground, apologize for making noise and using up the obviously limited supply of oxygen around here in the wild outdoors, and to call them Great Grand Exalted Masters or some such. Is that it?"

Jinx noticed both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow tensing up and wisely pretended to be so fascinated by a nearby tree as to not have noticed the altercation.

Storm Shadow turned to glare at the two apprentices.

"Are you accusing your brother of sucking up to us with pretty words, Billy?" he asked. "Why would you imply he ever does any of these things?"

Billy's eye widened and Kamakura acquired a very smug grin. Storm Shadow scowled at them both.

"Stop baiting Kamakura," he said. "It's far too easy and you'll start thinking you're better at making people lose their composure than you really are."

"Yes, Sensei," Billy said, bowing as well as he could within his brother's grasp. "Sorry."

Snake Eyes stepped ahead of Storm Shadow the instant his brother's apprentice was done apologizing, staring directly at his own student. Kamakura audibly gulped, dropped Billy and bowed, stammering an apology and keeping his eyes on his sensei's hands. Snake Eyes nodded curtly and signed to ask whether his student somehow felt that Storm Shadow and himself were incapable of handling discipline on their own and therefore needed his help.

"No Sensei," Kamakura replied. "Sorry Sensei. It's just that…"

Snake Eyes made a cutting motion and Kamakura fell silent, bowing one last time to express compliance.

Jinx cleared her throat. "I brought this from the car, by the way. Just in case you need it," she said in a helpful tone, holding up a roll of duct tape.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Well, duct taping them together WOULD bring them closer to each other.

Thank you for reading, and please review!

Than you to my beta Asterisk78. :)


	6. Chapter 6: Setting Up Camp

**Chapter 6: Setting Up Camp**

"Wow," Kamakura said. "It's like plunging into a movie… I didn't know little towns like this actually existed. I mean, except when they're set up for tourists."

The ninjas and ninjas-in-training had arrived in Hillview and were walking down the main street.

"You haven't travelled much, have you?" Billy grumbled. "I must have lived in twenty different towns just like this one, and I could never tell them apart from each other."

"Twenty?" Jinx asked, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't move that often, did you?"

"Yes," Billy replied testily. "After a couple of close calls, the program took to moving me every few weeks whether or not they thought my position was compromised. Those two months in San Francisco were the longest I stayed in one place for nearly three years."

"Are you sure it was just to play it safe?" Kamakura teased. "Maybe… " he trailed off under the glare Snake Eyes gave him through his sunglasses and lifelike rubber mask. "Maybe all those moves really were due to close calls and they just didn't tell you," he improvised in place of suggesting, as he had been about to, that the various program employees just couldn't stand Billy for longer than that and kept demanding to be rid of him.

Billy rolled his eye, easily guessing Kamakura had been about to insult him, but bit back any retort, determined not to be blamed for the next fight.

The resolution lasted right until Kamakura picked up a can of Pepsi in the supermarket. Storm Shadow threw Snake Eyes a significant scowl, but the other ninja just shrugged and signed that his apprentice would easily work it off.

"Would you like one, Billy?" Kamakura asked, smirking evilly and holding the can out to his brother.

Billy's eye narrowed.

"Oh, right!" Kamakura exclaimed, sounding as though he'd just remembered something. "Of course not."

He opened the can and took a long swig, looking and sounding like he was enjoying it rather more than was reasonable. Neither he nor Billy noticed the two masters glancing at each other and very blatantly failing to interfere.

"Sean, you're being silly," Billy said, shaking his head sadly. "Don't you see there's no need to be jealous that Tommy cares enough about my wellbeing to insist I don't drink this garbage?"

Snake Eyes felt a vein throbbing in his forehead and rounded on Tommy, intent on making sure he didn't let his apprentice get away with this kind of implications. He was pleased to see Storm Shadow was indeed glaring at Billy and, even more telling, made no move at all when Kamakura pounced on the younger man.

The fight quickly drew the eyes of everyone around and Snake Eyes, recognizing the opportunity to identify themselves as martial artists and thus encourage the townspeople to warn them about The Glaive, grabbed Tommy's collar and signed to demand his brother apologize for his apprentice's words.

"There is nothing to apologize for!" Tommy played along. "All he said was that your hot head of a student should NOT be jealous!"

Snake Eyes answered with a kick directed at Storm Shadow's head, kick which was just barely ducked under. Tommy responded by trying to trip his brother and the two were soon having an all-out spar which quickly got the attention of everyone around, including the apprentices, who had stopped fighting to watch wide-eyed.

"They're sparring," Jinx informed Billy and Kamakura in a whisper after about a minute. "Probably just wanted to make you two stop."

"Kimi…" Tommy groaned, stopping the fight. "Couldn't you let them feel bad about driving us against each other for just a little bit longer?"

"It seemed more caring to spare them such emotional distress," Jinx answered nonchalantly, inspecting her nails as she talked. "I've apparently already started bounding with them more… this trip must be working."

Snake Eyes kept his body language carefully in check when one of the locals who had stopped to gawk at the two pairs of fighters cleared his throat; playing through the rehearsed scenario, he turned and cocked his head questioningly. Storm Shadow adopted the same general idea of pretending not to know what the stranger may want to communicate by bowing theatrically to the assembled spectators.

"Thank you, thank you," he said happily. "I'm afraid we can't do another demonstration, sorry."

"You're… you're good," the man stammered. "I, err… I've never seen you 'round here before…"

Having said as much, Stephen Price swallowed and scratched his head, unsure how to continue and wishing he had resisted sticking his foot in his mouth for once. For all he knew, he had five members of that Glaive gang everyone was talking about right in front of him, and he certainly didn't want to confront them. The only reason he had started talking was that his first thought had been that the five were good fighters and should be warned about the dangerous mountain gang. The thought that they themselves may be part of The Glaive had only dawned on him as he had started talking, and then he hadn't quite known how to stop without giving away that he suspected them.

Storm Shadow cocked his head; the man was clearly terrified.

"We're just passing through, we're camping in the mountain," he said, smiling encouragingly and reciting the cover agreed upon with Snake Eyes to make locals warn them about The Glaive. "My friend and I are martial arts teachers; these boys…" he pointed at Billy and Kamakura, "are our students and my cousin…" he pointed at Jinx, "is our assistant. We're not actually violent, and we apologize for the disturbance." He bowed again, this time affecting a serious air.

Price chewed on his lip a bit and settled for looking at the other people around, hoping someone else would pick up the conversation. Nobody did. What finally decided him to go through with his warning to the five strangers was the thought that if he didn't and they got into trouble, he'd never forgive himself.

"Well, just so you know…" he said. "There's this gang in the mountain, called The Glaive?" he stopped then, trying to read their reactions.

"A gang?" one of the kids – the one with the eye patch – said. "You mean, like criminals? What are they doing out here?"

"They fight people," Price muttered, trying hard to give information without insulting the dangerous gang – just in case he was in fact talking to some of them. "Duel kind of thing, but word is they're err… insistent?"

"You mean, they just attack people without provocation?" the other kid asked, frowning. He looked so indignant that Price found himself completely unable to continue to believe there was any chance the five were involved with The Glaive.

"Yeah," he said much more comfortably. "Word is they're looking for good fighters, and apparently, when they find them, they keep 'em. They got these matches that they get people to bet on."

Kamakura's eyes widened before narrowing into a disgusted scowl. Billy raised an eyebrow.

"This may work out," Storm Shadow mused. "If they decide to try and take us on, we may be able to apprehend them for you."

"If we all work together?" Billy asked.

Jinx snorted. "I'm thinking we won't need a whole lot of teamwork. How bad can they be if they're afraid to hang out in the city?"

"We don't know why they choose to operate here," Storm Shadow remarked. "I'm confident we can take them on, but we ought to at least be on our guard."

He bowed to Price again. "I understand now why you were nervous… you had no way to know we weren't with The Glaive ourselves. Thank you for taking the chance to warn us."

* * *

The group left Hillview with a good quantity of non-perishable food and a few pieces of camping gear that Storm Shadow had decided they needed in addition to what he had already brought to the campsite.

"Young Master?" Kamakura asked once they had cleared the town's limits, "Will that be enough for a week?"

"Didn't I tell you? The intent is to fast the last four days," Storm Shadow answered.

Kamakura, Billy and even Jinx briefly stopped walking. Storm Shadow burst out laughing but regained his composure following a swift slap to the back of his head by Snake Eyes.

"Ow," he declared, making it sound more like a joke – especially since he was still grinning - than a yelp of pain. "All right, all right, no fasting. There's a village about two hours away from camp, we can refill there when we run out of anything. We'll also hunt and fish, so we won't be eating legumes and nuts for all this time."

"Can we agree right now that we won't resort to eating rodents?" Billy asked hopefully.

"Baby," Kamakura said in a low growl.

"No promises," Storm Shadow replied. "And boys, by all means, do bicker all the way up; it'll make you use up more calories and increase the cardio on the walk."

The warning was heeded, and both apprentices contented themselves with throwing the other dirty looks for most of the day, keeping the number of verbal altercations to barely a dozen and the number of physical fights to a downright miraculous single instance.

* * *

Firefly leaned back in his chair and joined his hands in front of his chest, carefully arranging his body language to look nonchalant, yet deadly serious.

"Call client Cobra Two," he said in a clear voice, addressing the voice recognition software in his videophone.

The machine obediently established the communication, and Mindbender's face soon appeared on Firefly's screen. The mad scientist's eyes widened briefly before narrowing in anger.

"Firefly!" he growled. "How did you gain access to this line? What do you want? Do… you can't know where we are, it's impossible!"

Firefly cocked his head and snickered.

"I have no interest in selling information on your location to the Cobra Commander," he said. "I call you with good news on our contract."

Mindbender's expression changed completely from defiance to incredulous delight. He bent forward, his breath a bit short.

"A descendant?" he asked. "You found a descendant of Hattori's?"

Firefly nodded. "To be honest, I knew who to look for; it was only a matter of locating him away from his allies. You'll be pleased, I believe… after all, Storm Shadow does possess some interesting genetic traits even beyond his relation with Hanzo Hattori."

Mindbender's eyes widened again and he backed away with an audible gulp.

"Storm Shadow…" he muttered. "You mean to tell me the clan war that killed Hattori was with the Arashikage? They're the clan his daughter married into to end the hostilities?"

Firefly gave a firm nod. "Unlike Hattori, the Arashikage were always very careful to keep their name out of history books," he said. "But the clan's own records are crystal clear."

"And Storm Shadow is somewhere by himself right now?"

Firefly nodded again. "He was spotted alone by one of my little scattered birds, who had the presence of mind to record him on his cell phone; although he could not get an image without risking notice, from his description and the voice recording, I am completely confident he identified him correctly. I suspect the Young Master will have some company sooner or later, but he is in an undefended area and I expect relatively alone. I can secure him for you, but I will have some significant expenses for which I expect to be compensated."

Mindbender scowled. "What choice do I have now?" he asked bitterly. "I need Hanzo Hattori's DNA, and since his remains are nowhere to be found… do consider, however, how grateful we will be if…"

"I have no use for IOU's, Mindbender. You will transfer five additional millions into my account within the next hour, or I will find myself unable to complete your contract and will look for another client who may be more willing to invest in the capture of Mr. Arashikage."

Mindbender paled, snarled, and cut the communication. Firefly smiled under his mask, easily guessing that the money would be transferred as requested.

A quick check of his bank account, ten minutes later, confirmed his guess right.

* * *

"Okay…" Jinx said in a sigh, shining her flashlight on the smallest tent in the campsite, "not to sound ungrateful or anything, I appreciate that you put up a tent for me, dear cousin, but…"

"Oh, you're welcome," Tommy cut her off, grinning.

"Oh, Jinx…" Billy snickered. "It's SOOO you."

Kamakura's lips twitched and only the will not to give Billy the satisfaction of agreeing with him on whether something was funny or not kept him from laughing at the tent.

"Which part?" Jinx asked. "The hot pink, the fairies, the purple flowers, or the glittery butterflies?" She groaned. "I'm going to be blinded by pink and glitter every morning…"

"You were concerned about the boys, I got you a boy-repelling tent," Tommy explained.

Snake Eyes signed that there was no arguing it was repulsive. Kamakura, now able to agree with his sensei rather than with Billy, snickered. "It's a shame it's repulsive to any girl over eight years old, too," he said.

Jinx rolled her eyes again, harrumphed, and went to deposit her gear into her tent. "It's just colour," she mumbled upon coming back out with her toiletries. "Where's the rest area? Do I need money for a hot shower?"

Storm Shadow blinked innocently at her and Snake Eyes cocked his head, causing all three of their younger companions to look at them both wide eyed.

"Tell me you didn't pick a campsite that is nowhere near any modern plumbing," Jinx said in a tone somewhere between a threat and a plea.

Snake Eyes signed a reminder that the intent was to be roughing it, away from all civilization.

Jinx's eyes narrowed. "Typical," she growled. "Did it occur to you at all that using the woods means squatting SEVERAL times a day for me? And most of these times, there's a chance it'll run down my…"

"Camping toilet," Tommy interrupted her, pointing towards a path off the campsite. "I got a privy tent and even dug a hole rather than deal with bags. How nice was that of me, hmm?"

Jinx chewed on her lower lip for a moment, torn between still being angry and acknowledging this was a relief. She managed a half-hearted 'thank you' before Billy saved her from having to say more by changing the subject.

"What about showers?" he asked.

"If you must, there IS a river nearby. Can't you hear it?" Storm Shadow asked, smirking. He held back a laugh when the pulse of all three younger ninjas spiked and they drew a slightly sharp breath.

Billy and Kamakura held back any comment, both of them intent on not being the one to complain. Jinx let out a long suffering sigh.

"Right," she said. "Roughing it. Well! I'm not staying sweaty and dirty for a week, so I'm going to go for a nice cold leech infected bath, now. The rest of you will just have to stay warm and dry for a few more minutes."

"So…" Billy said as she stalked off, "which tent is ours, Sensei?"

"You two are in the blue tent," Storm Shadow answered, pointing.

Billy's face fell and Kamakura groaned audibly at the news they'd be sharing living quarters.

"I hope you at least have the decency not to snore," Kamakura growled.

"He doesn't snore," Storm Shadow supplied, the grin easily heard in his voice, "but he's a worm. He used to wake up on the wrong side of the water tower at least one morning out of three."

Kamakura sighed resignedly and crawled in the tent to arrange his things. Billy, in no hurry to actually be inside the tiny space with his imposed roommate, excused himself to go gather some kindle for the fire.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I highly recommend googling Hanzo Hattori. He was one badass of a ninja, with the one flaw (for a ninja) of being famous for it.

The idea that Storm Shadow is descended from him, following Hanzo's daughter marrying into the Arashikage clan and thus ending the Clan War that would have killed Hanzo Hattori, is shared by CrystalOfEllinon and myself (I do believe Crystal was the one who first suggested it). My thanks to her and everyone else on twitter who helped tweak the idea.

Just a note… just because Storm Shadow is genetically wired to attract trouble does not mean the focus will change from the apprentices to him. This is still a story about Billy and Kamakura first… but the fact is they're in Tommy's company, and he's not the type to sit in a corner and be quiet… unless he's planning to startle you by suddenly jumping out of said corner.

Thank you once again to Asterisk78 for reviewing this for me. Your advices were very much appreciated. :)

Thanks for reading, please review!


	7. Chapter 7: First Night Out

**Chapter 7: ****First Night Out**

Jinx came back from her river bath feeling, despite her grumblings, nicely refreshed. The water was nowhere near as cold as in the meditation stream back home, which helped make the clean up process feel like a pleasant – if slightly cool - swim where she just happened to also soap up.

At camp, a fire was crackling in the pit and her four companions were sitting around it, looking frighteningly like normal campers relaxing by a fire; there was even a kettle next to the fire, although it was presumably for herbal tea rather than coffee since it was closest to Tommy. She joined them, sitting between her cousin and Snake Eyes.

"No training scheduled for the evening?" she asked.

Snake Eyes shook his head.

"Just a nice relaxing evening," Tommy confirmed. "Quality family time."

Kamakura didn't quite succeed in keeping his face neutral.

"What is it, Kamakura?" Billy asked, glowering at his fellow apprentice. "Don't like the idea of us both being in the same family, do you? Afraid you're somehow related to the Commander, now?"

Jinx sighed. "Quality?" she said, her voice barely a whisper and intended for her cousin alone.

He ignored her completely, as if he hadn't heard her.

"Why not?" Kamakura answered Billy. "I sure don't WANT to be related to him. Do you? You certainly did the last couple of times you were around. You made it real clear you didn't want dear old Dad to be hurt."

Jinx noticed both her cousin and Snake Eyes twitch, but both masters refrained from getting involved. Between this and the supermarket, it was becoming obvious that they were going to let the two boys bicker as much as they wanted. Her first thought was that they were hoping the two apprentices would end up talking things out, but she doubted Snake Eyes would be so naïve. It was more likely that they just wanted the boys to act naturally so that any apparent progress could be assumed real and lasting.

Billy was up, staring down Kamakura, who was looking up at him with a bored expression.

"Well forgive me for holding out hope that the man I remember from my early childhood might not be completely gone yet!"

Kamakura lost his bored expression in favour of an outraged one and stood up too.

"How do you think it feels to any of us that you're still attached to him?" he asked, his voice just short of yelling volume. "He's killed more people than I want to count; he terrifies the whole planet; he brainwashed YOUR sensei; he…!"

"I know EXACTLY how it feels to some of you!" Billy shouted back, cutting Kamakura off. "Do you think nobody tells me? DAILY? Do you think I'm blind and I can't see how people act around me even when they don't say anything?"

"YOU'RE SYMPATHIZING WITH COBRA!"

"He is not," Storm Shadow corrected calmly. "Back then, he was merely requesting that the death penalty not be applied to his father, the request being based on his belief that the Commander's criminal activities – including what he did to me - were the result of a severe mental illness. He's never expressed any sympathy for the Cobra ORGANIZATION or its actions. His decision to join the very army unit which opposes Cobra should testify to that."

"Apparently not," Billy grumbled. "I get people cornering me to interrogate me EVERY bloody day, usually more than once, and a good third of the base keeps their eyes on me or leaves the area whenever I'm around. Junkyard is at least more open, he growls at me outright. Even though he pretends to scold him, I'm pretty sure Mutt gives him treats for it when I'm gone."

"I doubt it," Jinx said. "I'd say Junk can just tell how Mutt feels and he's reacting accordingly."

"You can't blame them!" Kamakura said. "What are we supposed to do, just blindly trust you? How do we know you're not an inside man for your father?"

"You make me wish my ear infection was making me even deafer than it is, Kamakura, so that I may not have heard that," Storm Shadow growled.

Billy had been about to scream something, but he was not about to interrupt his sensei lecturing Kamakura. He clenched his fists and even refrained from asking where this sudden ear infection was coming from and to remark Tommy had been in a remarkably good mood all day, something that was beyond unusual whenever his sensei's hearing was not at a hundred percent.

"You have an ear infection?" Jinx asked Storm Shadow. "Since when?"

"Day I left the base," Storm Shadow lied. He had no ear infection; he was merely capitalizing on the opening Kamakura had given him to pretend he did and that it affected his hearing. "That's not the point," he continued a bit abruptly. He turned back to Kamakura and his voice deepened again to a low growl. "In answer to your question, we know he is loyal to us because I say so. I will not tolerate an insinuation like that against my apprentice again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hawk happens to trust him too," Jinx added. "You'd think that'd be good enough for everybody."

Snake Eyes nodded through the glare he was directing at Kamakura, who seemed to be shrinking under said glare much more than from Storm Shadow or Jinx's words. He turned his instinctive reaction of trying to bury his head into his shoulders and his shoulders into his torso into a bow to Storm Shadow.

"Yes, Young Master. I'm sorry."

Storm Shadow huffed but his expression relaxed slightly and he leaned back in his chair. "Now both of you sit down and be quiet," he said. "As per tradition around a campfire, we need a story and I just happen to have a good one to tell."

He paused, cleared his throat, and when nobody turned out to be suicidal enough to openly protest, started.

"This is, by the way, a true story. It is the story of how the Kagenohi clan was destroyed."

Jinx frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember long forgotten history lessons. The name was familiar, and it was certainly not one of the clans around today, but she could remember nothing of how they may have been destroyed.

"The Kagenohi was once a very prosperous clan," Tommy continued. "They were ruthless and talented, which made them excellent assassins, and they charged their clients accordingly. Two of the many Kagenohi ninjas were particularly effective, and rightfully famous amongst ninjas. Even the Arashikage, back then as much as today, had nothing but praise for their skills if not for their character."

"Because they were both as outstanding as one another, and because they performed the same type of missions and were from the same clan, they were linked in people's mind as a pair, even though they were by no means a fixed team and in fact did not happen to often work together. One day, the younger of the two succeeded in a particularly high profile assassination: the shogun himself, slain in broad daylight while surrounded by his many bodyguards."

"Arrow?" Jinx asked.

"Yes," Storm Shadow replied. "The Kagenohi ninja had infiltrated the compound as a servant, snuck in a bow and arrows, escaped the notice of his masters, shot from the roof - one arrow that pierced the Shogun's throat - and escaped without even being seen. He was understandably very proud of himself. However, when he went out that evening to celebrate his victory, he heard many ninjas discussing the kill, and they were all attributing it to his older sword brother or in a minority of cases, to both of them. When he tried to correct the speakers, he was informed that his older brother had personally taken credit. His own words were thought to be the lies of a jealous young shinobi thirsty for ever more fame."

"But it's the older one who had lied," Kamakura remarked, his eyes opened wide, "and he refused to retract? The two fought over it?"

"He had nothing to retract: he had not claimed credit in the first place," Tommy said. "When the younger ninja confronted him, the older one reasoned that someone had planted the false information among the other clans in order to infuriate his sword brother. It seemed so obvious to him that he sneered at the younger man and called him a fool, recalling other instances where his brother's judgment had been less than perfect. He went so far as to suggest that the reason people had so readily believed the wrong information was because the mission was far too complex to have been carried out by one with such limited intelligence as his brother."

"Different versions of the story start diverging when it comes to the details of the ensuing argument, but it ended with the two impeccably skilled ninjas engaged in a duel to the death. The master of their clan attempted to stop them, but the two were so focused on their fight that they both struck at the intruder without recognizing him, each only concerned with not suffering interference that would grant their opponent an advantage. They realized what they had done as their master fell dead at their feet, and each blamed the other."

"Now you need to remember that the two were the stars of the Kagenohi; rightfully famous and on a more practical level, both important sources of income and respect. The clan divided on how to deal with the situation: some wanted to execute both, some only blamed one or the other and therefore wanted the one they felt was not responsible spared any retribution. Some blamed neither, arguing the master had committed a fatal mistake and was the only one responsible for the tragedy. Complicating things further, the group who wanted the younger of the two accidental murderers exonerated also wanted him to take the head of the clan, as its best fighter. The group who wanted his older rival cleared of any wrongdoing wanted the exact same thing for HIM, and the group who felt neither was guilty argued both had an equal claim to leadership."

"War raged within the clan until only a handful were left. The survivors dispersed and joined other clans, but no clan inherited the two incredibly talented shinobis who had started this massacre: neither survived."

Storm Shadow finished on a sigh and stared into the flames. Snake Eyes had his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, his eyes not focused on anything in particular; the perfect picture of someone lost in unpleasant thoughts.

"Hm," Billy said thoughtfully, leaning forward in his chair with his forearms on his thighs and his hands joined loosely between his legs. "There's a moral here, I just know it… possibly because you're kind of beating us over the head with it."

Snake Eyes twitched and Storm Shadow scowled at his protégé. "I'm glad you find it obvious," he said. "Why don't you share your thoughts with your brother?"

"There's no need, Young Master, I see the parallels to us as well," Kamakura said hurriedly. "I did not speak out because I felt it better to reflect on the lesson than to mock it."

Billy bristled at the reproach from his fellow apprentice. "Of course you did; you're such a perfect student," he said, rolling his eye. "Heavens forbid your brains start coming up with..." he stopped upon noting that both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were glaring at him. "What I mean to say is, I wasn't mocking the lesson; it's just that the delivery was remarkably efficient, so err… I remarked on it."

"Actually, you were making fun of how blatant the moral was," Storm Shadow corrected, "and yet you proceeded to completely ignore it." He turned to Kamakura. "And you claim to understand the point I was trying to make as well, and even to have been trying to reflect on it, but the first words out of your mouth are to bring your brother down."

Snake Eyes nodded, clearly just as displeased as Storm Shadow, and signed that since the children were acting up, it may be best to turn in for the night.

"It HAS been a long day," Jinx replied with a yawn and a stretch. "And who knows what tomorrow will bring? Goodnight everyone." She got up and started for her tent.

"Just a moment, Kimi," Tommy said. "We need to assign guard shifts."

She stopped and tilted her head at him. "You mean you won't hear trouble coming?" she asked. "Your ears are that bad? And you haven't killed anyone yet?"

Tommy rolled his eyes at her. "I feel the purpose of this trip is far too important to allow myself to be distracted by pointless anger over an ailment that is nobody's fault."

Snake Eyes clicked his tongue to get everyone's attention and signed that they would draw for the shifts, instructing everyone to pick a letter from A to E. Once everyone had done that, he revealed the order of the shifts based on the letters picked, ending up with the first one for himself. Jinx would be next, followed by Storm Shadow, then Kamakura and finally Billy.

* * *

Billy's first impression when he entered the tent was that their backpacks must have exploded; there was stuff everywhere. The impression was quickly dispelled by the fact his backpack was intact, right where he'd left it in the far right corner. It was, however, now flanked by Kamakura's partly empty backpack.

Billy's eyes narrowed in distaste, but he drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and took a long look around the tent again. It was a cramped space, after all: small enough that even a little bit of disorder would appear, at first glance, to be a horrible mess.

It only took two seconds to realize that no, it wasn't just the cramped space: the place really did look like a tornado had been through. The mats and sleeping bags, which had been neatly set up when Billy had put his bag in the tent earlier, had been kicked out of alignment and were on angles, with the sleeping bags hanging off the mats and further reducing what had previously been nicely useable rectangles of floor space.

As if the beds being as much of a mess as one could possibly make of them wasn't enough, there was a small pile of clothes by Kamakura's bed, although calling it a pile was generous; it was more of a flat-ish mound and was taking up more floor space than Billy felt was possible without it having been spread out on purpose. Between the two beds, and therefore as much in Billy's territory as Kamakura's, was a pack of water bottles with one bottle separated from the packaging for easy access, a box of tissues, two books, a notepad and a pen, and a toiletry bag. Not a single item was piled on top of another one to save room – even the pen sat NEXT to the notepad, and the books were only partly overlapping.

The fact Kamakura had tossed his bag next to Billy's felt like a promise of future spreading of the mess to the whole tent. Billy forced himself to take another deep breath, calming down just enough that he would probably have managed to put Kamakura's junk back in his backpack without so much as breaking any of it, but he never got the chance: Kamakura came through the opening of the tent and walked right in between the two beds, barely sparing his brother a glance.

Billy's eye fixed on the dirt from Kamakura's shoes, which his brother was dragging all over the tent, and his eyelid twitched. He pictured himself calmly explaining to Kamakura that he really should take his shoes off to keep the inside of the tent clean, especially if he was going to leave stuff on the floor, and imagined himself going on from there to pointing out that with so little space, it was best to keep everything contained until the very moment you needed it, so you didn't trip on everything. The visualization technique failed.

"COLLINS! YOU FILTHY PIG, TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! AND…"

"Sheesh, simmer down," Kamakura cut him off. "It's camping: this floor ain't staying clean. Accept it."

The calm, condescending tone made the edge of Billy's vision tint with red.

"There is NO reason it can't stay clean," he growled, "provided you act like a civilized person! And LOOK at this place! Were you TRYING to make the biggest mess you could? Didn't they teach you to clean up after yourself in basic?"

"What are you on about?" Kamakura asked. "I just have my clothes for tomorrow out and a couple things for tonight! It's a tent, it's not going to look like a 5 star hotel!"

Billy could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead, but there was no way Kamakura was going to show him up on being calm and composed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, took yet another deep breath, and picked up the pack of water bottles.

"Do you actually need more than one bottle tonight?" he asked. "No you don't," he answered himself. He stepped over his bed and stowed the rest of the water back in an empty compartment of Kamakura's bag.

Kamakura rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said with a sigh. "Put it back in my bag so I have to dig it out each time I want some. Yeah, that makes TOTAL sense."

"Five seconds of effort every now and then to save what little floor space we have? Yes, it DOES make sense. Now, the books…"

"They go together," Kamakura interjected. "I need both of them out. AND the notepad. Sensei said…"

"Study material for the evenings," Billy cut him off. "Fine. Check this out, I'm going to do magic."

He pushed the notepad to the fabric wall and laid both books and the pen on top of it. He then gestured at the neat pile with a flourish. "Ta-da! Same stuff, no mess!" He gave a deep performer's bow.

Kamakura glared at him. "Great," he muttered. "You're a neat freak, too. There's just no end to… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Billy was kneeling on Kamakura's bed and had picked up his sword brother's clothes. "It's called folding," he replied. "Something else I figured the army would have taught you."

"I know how to fold!" Kamakura snarled, snatching the pile back and throwing it back on the floor. "But we're CAMPING! And Sensei said minimal equipment! I only have two changes of clothes, they're not going to stay clean and wrinkle free! Which part of 'roughing it' did you translate as 'everything has to be shiny perfect'?"

Billy rolled his eye and picked the item on top of the pile – pants – back up. Kamakura tried to snatch them back, so he got up and stepped away to fold them. Kamakura followed and grabbed them.

The battle of the clothes went on for about five minutes before Billy got fed up and after feinting for the clothes again, grabbed the tissues, toiletry bag and water bottle from between the beds and dumped them on the other side of Kamakura's bed.

"I WAS going to help you figure out how to make all your crap fit in YOUR space, instead of where we both need to walk, but FINE. Enjoy your heap!"

Kamakura felt a scream rising in his throat, but he had a sinking feeling Billy would use the fact he hadn't moved his books with the rest of his things, and the fact he was letting him get away with putting his bag on the far side of the tent, to convince their senseis that he was being the reasonable one.

He shook his head. "You're such a baby," he sighed. He flinched when he noticed Billy was nudging the beds so they'd be perfectly aligned, but he clenched his jaw shut, told himself there was no harm in it, and changed into his boxers for the night.

Billy shrugged off the insult, content for now with Kamakura not trying to spread his stuff all over their tent. He didn't mind the bag on his side after all - it balanced the visual weight a bit - and he intended to sneak a peek at the books, so he was quite happy for them to remain between the beds.

* * *

Snake Eyes cocked his head when the noises coming from the boys' tent became too strange for him to identify. He signed to ask Tommy what was going on.

"They're fighting over the clothes," Tommy chuckled. "Billy keeps trying to grab them to fold them, Sean keeps trying to grab them back."

Snake Eyes' chuckle quickly turned into full blown silent laughter as the noises continued for a few minutes. It was only once the boys were done even talking that he finally managed to stop laughing enough to sign a remark questioning the wisdom of Tommy training Billy to share his obsessive tendencies when it came to neatness.

Storm Shadow snickered. "I don't think that was me, actually. I never TRIED to, put it this way. I think he just developed the habit himself. He's been living out of a suitcase, in other people's homes, for about three years… keeping his stuff tidy was probably the closest he could get to having some kind of stability in his surroundings, and if you're stuck in random impersonal rooms, wouldn't YOU rather be stuck in random impersonal CLEAN rooms, at least?"

Snake Eyes shrugged and, switching subject, advised Storm Shadow to get some sleep so he'd be well rested before he kidnapped himself.

Tommy snorted but got in bed to follow the advice anyway. Snake Eyes slipped out for his guard shift.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Sorry for the wait, it's been crazy busy at work lately. I've also been kind of ill for about four months, and not only is it affecting my concentration, never feeling well is really starting to wear on me and making me plain lazy.

In an effort to finally give you SOMETHING, this chapter ends sooner than I had originally planned; the end of the night will be in the next chapter.

If you're wondering, the Kagenohi and their history is not genuine, I made it up entirely. Any resemblance to real people or event is entirely coincidental.

Many thanks to Asterisk78 and WillWrite4Fics for reviewing this for me.

Thank you all for reading, and please review!


	8. Chapter 8: Ninjanapped!

**Chapter 8: Ninja-napped!**

Jim Winslow snarled at the door when he heard the knock. As a general rule, people didn't come to his house; between his well earned reputation, the many 'Keep Out' signs that decorated his weed infested front yard and the fact the house itself looked like it may decide to swallow unwanted visitors into another dimension or alternatively, simply fall on them, he enjoyed relative peace.

The usual exception was the police checking that he was upholding the terms of his bail. Winslow couldn't remember precisely what those were and didn't care, but as it so happened, he was pretty sure he wasn't known to have done anything illegal in the past little while. Ergo, the cops had no good reason to be bugging him at home, especially not this late in the evening.

He slammed the door into the wall when he opened it and gave the intruder his best scowl for about a quarter of a second before said intruder shoved him aside and let himself in.

He opened his mouth to yell at the intruder, but closed it without making a sound when a thick roll of cash bounced off his chest. He bent to pick it up and by the time he was upright again, his expression had changed to show his employer proper respect.

"Thank you, sir," he said. "Sorry about giving you the evil eye there, I didn't recognize you right away."

Firefly waved the apology aside. "What was he doing here?" he asked.

"Storm Shadow? He was pretending The Glaive beat him up. No idea why."

"The Glaive? What's that?"

"Some kind of fight club," Winslow replied with a shrug. "They kidnap people in the mountain and they make them fight. The whole county's in a panic; the cops from here and Hillview are organizing searches and everything."

Firefly frowned. He had his doubts The Glaive existed, but if Storm Shadow had indeed made the whole thing up, he may also have placed people around pretending to be them, which was just another reason to believe Tommy Arashikage was no longer out here by himself.

"He might have friends with him by now," he told Winslow. "I'm going to need a secure place to hold him and maybe a few more individuals."

"You can use my house if you like," Winslow offered, picturing a generous monetary compensation.

Firefly snorted. "This house would never hold a ninja," he replied. "I'm going to send you one of my lieutenants tomorrow. You will help him and his men take over this village."

Winslow's lips curved up in a smile. This was going to be FUN.

* * *

Kamakura was sleeping very soundly on top of his sleeping bag. The early night had been warm, and the tent had not yet lost the heat of the day when they had gone to sleep, so neither boy had been tempted to get into their sleeping bags. It was cooler now, but not nearly cold enough to wake someone trained to be able to sleep in nearly any condition.

Sadly, no amount of training could help one prepare for suddenly having a cold piece of metal poking one in the back. Kamakura yelped and jumped up before he was even fully awake, at first having no idea what had touched him.

The nightlight they had left on to avoid stepping on each other should one of them need to get up shed plenty of light on the mystery: Billy was lying on a diagonal from his bed, and had kicked him with his metal foot.

Kamakura felt a vein throb in his forehead: the younger man still looked asleep, which Sean interpreted as proof conclusive that he was only pretending to sleep and was in fact wide awake. He picked up his pillow and threw it in his sword brother's face.

"YOU STUPID BRAT!" he yelled. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE! YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY, DO YOU? THAT WAS…"

"What horrible crime have I committed now?" Billy asked sleepily, tossing the pillow back in Sean's general direction. "Gave you a bad dream?"

"You can stop pretending you were asleep," Kamakura growled, "I'm NOT BUYING IT! Maybe I'll stick some cold metal in YOUR back next time, see how YOU LIKE IT!"

Billy blinked at him and took notice of how he was lying relative to his bed.

"I kicked you with the metal foot?" he asked. It was a bit of a redundant question by that point: Kamakura was practically frothing at the mouth in rage. Billy's imagination supplied him with an image of Kamakura yelping and jumping from the touch and although he'd never find out just how close that mental image was to what had in fact happened, he burst out laughing.

This was not the most diplomatic way to handle the situation and it did nothing to improve his sword brother's mood. The next several seconds were loud.

Kamakura's voice died in his throat mid-word when a hand pressed on his shoulder. He gulped and turned to find his sensei and Jinx behind him, both looking downright murderous.

* * *

Storm Shadow turned towards the camp with a smirk to greet Kamakura, who was coming to relieve him nearly half an hour ahead of schedule.

"Young Master, I was told to relieve you early," the young man said with a bow when he reached him.

"I guessed as much. Oh, Kamakura…" he added with a mock sigh. "I TOLD you he was a worm."

The apprentice lowered his eyes. "Yes, Young Master. I'm sorry."

Storm Shadow snorted and started walking towards his tent. "It's alright, Sean, especially when it means I get to go back to bed early."

"Goodnight, Young Master," Kamakura said with a sigh. 'I AM sorry. I… I just don't get it. I'm sorry. It's just…" he hesitated, feeling like he was threading dangerous waters while at the same time convinced he needed to do just that. "It's just that… doesn't it bother you?"

Tommy turned back around, his head cocked. "Doesn't what bother me?"

Sean clenched his fists, annoyed. It seemed so obvious to him that Billy's remaining loyalty to his father was basically an insult to Storm Shadow that he couldn't understand why he even needed to spell it out. "After everything the Commander did to you, and even to him, and to everyone…"

Storm Shadow chose to interrupt Kamakura before the young man had a chance to really stick his foot into his mouth; he put his hand up to silence him. Accustomed to obeying such signed commands, Sean automatically stopped talking.

"Food for thought:" Tommy said, "it can be harder to let go when the person you're mourning is still alive. "

Kamakura opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it and just nodded. Storm Shadow, satisfied, waved and left him, going back to the tent he shared with Snake Eyes.

* * *

For the following two hours, Kamakura alternated sitting and walking around silently, listening intently to his surroundings.

Or more accurately, trying to listen intently to his surroundings. There was only so much attention he could pay to absolutely nothing of note; especially when his thoughts kept coming back to the day's many irritations and to the latest conundrum thrown his way by the Young Master.

He idly wondered how often Billy got treated to impossible questions and undecipherable remarks – 'treated' being of course a figure of speech. He felt the tiniest bit of sympathy for his clan brother before his thoughts went back to the Commander's son's general behaviour since he'd arrived at the Pit and to how he'd gone bonkers over a tent – a tent! - not being one hundred percent tidy earlier that night.

Kamakura's upper lip curled up in a snarl; he'd be able to deal with Billy's incredible knack for being annoying under normal circumstances. He'd be able to just ignore the brat, if not for his supposed brother's complete lack of respect towards anyone in the clan. He'd never get it; he'd never understand how Jinx, Snake Eyes and especially Storm Shadow tolerated this.

It wasn't that he blamed Billy for who his father was… Sean Collins was himself the son of one of the original Crimson Guards and the adopted son of another one. But HIS fathers had been manipulated into that life, and his second one had managed to get himself out of it. Kamakura was confident his biological father would have as well if one of the Commander's crazy schemes hadn't got him killed before he'd had the chance.

The point was, Billy had no control over whose genes he shared, but as far as Kamakura was concerned, the very least he could have done would have been to officially disown his genitor. Instead, to this day, Billy STILL wished the Commander well. Storm Shadow was doing a good job pretending it didn't bother him, but really, how could it possibly not?

The young man was still fuming by the end of his shift, and although he was pretty sure that Storm Shadow's parting comments meant the Young Master did not blame his apprentice for his feelings, Kamakura had made no headway in understanding the reason for this tolerance and if anything, was angrier than ever at his fellow apprentice.

He walked through camp back towards his tent, but stopped as he passed the masters' tent, frowning and feeling as though something was amiss. He turned back and paid closer attention to everything around him, trying to figure out what had triggered his instincts.

It all hit him at once when his eyes fell on the masters' tent again: the door flap was wide opened, the inside of the tent was completely quiet, and there was a faint chemical smell in the air.

Kamakura's eyes widened. "MASTER!" he screamed, rushing into the tent, terrified of what he'd find, horrified something may have happened right under his guard.

The tent was empty. The ninja in training ran back outside, not even noticing the slight drowsiness caused by whatever it was that was still floating in the air.

"JINX!" he screamed as he ran towards the lurid pink tent. "JINX, WAKE UP!"

* * *

"So much for staying calm and collected," Storm Shadow commented in a whisper. The ninja was sitting high up a tree, a small distance from the camp.

Snake Eyes snorted softly from a neighbouring branch.

"I do hope they'll like the note," Tommy added, still whispering. "I worked hard on that. And wait until you see the dragon… it's a beauty."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I'm sorry for the slow updates, I really am. I keep being distracted by plot bunnies and shiny things (and non shiny things, it just doesn't take much at the moment).

Thanks for reading! Please review, because reviews make me feel good and motivate me and I could really use some of that lately.

And yes, constructive criticism is welcomed too; I _would_ like to improve.


	9. Chapter 9: The Trials Start

**Chapter 9: ****The Trials Start**

Jinx was up, fully awake and out of her tent before Kamakura even made it there.

"JINX! The masters…!"

She sidestepped him, her eyes wide, to check the masters' tent herself. She smelled the sleeping drug before she opened the flap and swallowed. This was insane, who would have come for them way out here and actually managed to capture them? She peeked in, hoping against reason for a clue that would reveal Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes had just stepped out.

Instead, she saw a note between their beds, pinned to the floor by a miniature glaive. Her heart started hammering and her thoughts started spinning. This couldn't be happening; two of the best ninjas in the World could not have gotten kidnapped in the middle of nowhere by some crazy fight club. Did that mean there was much more to The Glaive than what the folks around here knew about?

She forced herself to concentrate on the facts at hand rather than on questions and conjectures, and picked up the note. The text was typed in a font designed to make it look as though the letters were bleeding. Jinx couldn't explain why, but the sheer ridicule of it sent a shiver down her spine.

"We are The Glaive," she read. "We have observed your group since yesterday, and we believe that you have promising potential, beyond mere fighters. We wish to offer you the chance to join our inner circle, but we must first determine whether or not you can really be relied upon. It appears clear to us that your masters would easily breeze through any test we could devise, so the decision was made to test the three of you instead."

"Gone already, are they?" Billy asked sleepily from the tent opening, interrupting her.

Jinx lifted her eyes from the note to look at him. "They didn't leave," she said with a bit of difficulty. She'd hug Billy before telling him if not for Kamakura being there and her guess that Billy wouldn't want to be treated in any way like a child in front of his brother. "They… they were kidnapped. I'm sorry. The note says it's The Glaive. I'm thinking they're more than what they appear."

Billy blinked at her. "You're kidding, right?"

She shook her head.

"It's really no time for jokes," Kamakura said. "Jinx, what do you mean, more than they appear?"

"You're kidding," Billy said again, his eye wide.

Kamakura bit his cheeks in a valiant effort to stay calm. He could understand that Billy was in shock; he was young and hadn't seen much action other than hiding. As much as the childish denial was slowing Jinx and himself down in figuring out what to do, he knew he really needed to be the bigger man here and be patient with the younger apprentice.

"We're not kidding," he said gently. "Look, let's read the rest and we'll figure out how to rescue them. We should call the Pit for help, too."

"No," Jinx interrupted before Billy could answer, drawing Kamakura's attention back to her. The kunoichi was reading the note again. "It says here that as soon as they find out we called for help, they will deem us all unworthy, assume that our masters will forever refuse to cooperate as well, and eliminate them."

Kamakura paled and cursed. Billy sagged a bit.

"Guys…" he said. "Come on…"

Jinx frowned. "Billy, we don't have time for this. Get your head out of the sand and let's start working on rescuing them. At least we're being told they're still alive. It may not be true, but…"

"Why would they bother with testing us if they had killed them?" Kamakura asked. "We'd only rebel when we found out, we wouldn't want to ally with them. Testing us only makes sense if they really do keep them alive."

Jinx nodded. "Maybe."

"You're not kidding," Billy said, shaking his head in disbelief and chuckling slightly. "You're actually worried."

Kamakura stared at him, speechless. He'd suspected Billy didn't care much, but he would never have imagined he'd be that indifferent, to the point of not even bothering to hide it.

"What's wrong with you?" Jinx asked, glaring daggers at her youngest brother. "What could possibly be funny about…"

"What's wrong is that he doesn't give a damn," Kamakura growled. "I hate to say I told you so, but…"

"HEY!" Billy protested. "I WOULD care if they were in danger! Just because I don't suck up to them all the time doesn't mean…"

"You never show ANY respect!" Kamakura interrupted. "Never any appreciation for everything they've done for you or for teaching you! And now some criminal gang has them and you! Don't! Care!" he finished, getting closer to Billy with each word and emphasizing the last three with three shoves on his brother's shoulders.

"Hold on Sean. Billy, what do you mean, if they were…" Jinx tried.

Neither apprentices noticed.

Billy shoved back at Kamakura with a roar. "You idiot! You think it shows appreciation to act like you're constantly trying not to give them a reason to kill you? Like you can't ever talk freely for fear they'll turn on you and chop your head off to shut you up?"

"I CAN talk freely!" Kamakura snarled.

"ENOUGH!" Jinx thundered, cutting off Billy's reply. "Head on the mission, both of you!"

The two boys stopped talking out of sheer shock. Not trusting it would last, Jinx kept talking.

"Billy, you said you would be worried if they were in danger. What makes you think they're not?"

Billy's expression shifted slightly from anger to irritation. "Everything?" he replied. "We're supposed to be on a training trip but we'd be able to train better at the Pit. We're supposed to be roughing it, but we have decent tents, mats and even a toilet. Then there's this dangerous gang around that nobody ever heard of, that just happens to kidnap good fighters!" The young man's voice was slowly rising as he spoke and he was gesticulating by then, clearly exasperated he had to spell all this out. "Tommy even made…"

"Again with the first name basis!" Kamakura couldn't help interrupting. "What gives you the right…"

Billy rolled his eye. "Fine," he said, cutting off his brother. "The Young Master even made sure we understood we'd need teamwork to defeat this 'Glaive' thing, and then, it turns out he has an ear infection that affects his hearing! How's THAT for timing? Now The Glaive can sneak up on him no problem!"

"You're saying Tommy and Snake Eyes arranged this? Made up the Glaive and planted a rumour of their actions, and then pretended to get kidnapped so we'd have to work together to 'rescue' them?" Jinx asked.

"Yes!" Billy said in an exasperated tone. "That's the hardship! Not camping!"

Jinx narrowed her eyes at him. "And if you're wrong?" she asked icily.

Billy sagged a bit. "I'm not wrong. Come on, Jinx! This whole situation has T… Sensei's name written all over it! And since when can he manage to be in a good mood when his hearing is off?"

"Well, aren't you smart," Kamakura growled. "Can't possibly be wrong, can you? How full of yourself are you?" he added, his voice rising. "For all we know, the Masters are in danger! We can't just assume you guessed right!"

"Kamakura is right," Jinx said, still scowling at her youngest sword brother. "If and when this turns out to be a trick, you go ahead and gloat. In the meantime, we're going to assume it's real. Got it?"

The tone left no place for discussion. Billy shrugged and nodded: playing along was probably the best thing to do anyway; after all, not doing so would probably only cause the masters to come up with another scheme. He'd done his best to reassure Kamakura and Jinx so they wouldn't worry themselves sick over nothing; if they chose not to believe him, there was really nothing more he could do about it.

"Moving right along," Jinx said sternly, turning her eyes back to the note, "after warning us not to call for help, it says: 'We will present you with ten trials. Each will test not only your skills, but also your brains and your ability to function as a team. Every successfully completed task will earn you part of a password, which you must commit to memory. We will meet with you in ten days, after your last trial. At this point, you will either be able to give us the full password, or be deemed unworthy after all. If the latter should happen, neither you nor your teachers will be allowed to live to tell your tale.'"

"We're supposed to believe that they're going to keep two ninja masters captive for ten days?" Billy asked.

"How would they know the two men they're holding are ninja masters?" Kamakura asked impatiently. "Obviously, they THINK they can hold two normal martial artists for ten days."

"Which means we may not need to go through all ten tests," Jinx added. "We need to pass the ones we come across just in case, but obviously, we'll be able to stop this game once we find out the masters have escaped."

Billy kept his eye planted firmly on the letter to resist rolling it. It was pretty clear to him Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes would not go and 'escape' early. "Does it say where we'll find the first trial?" he asked, mostly to change the subject to more practical and therefore slightly less irritating matters.

"Your first trial starts now," Jinx read. "You must follow the nearby river upstream until you find a great dragon tethered to a tree. Further instructions will be provided then. Remember that you are forbidden to call for assistance, and that you will require all ten parts of the password to ensure yours and your teachers' survival. Good luck, The Glaive."

She cursed and folded the letter, putting it in her pocket. "Go get your weapons and equipment and let's get going," she instructed the other two. "Move it."

She went back in her tent herself to gather everything that may be of use and could be reasonably carried, her heart hammering and her jaw clenched. She was going to kill The Glaive for this, slowly. That the clandestine fight club had managed to pull off this kidnapping was bad luck all around: they'd had to spot them here, in the middle of nowhere, and they would not have succeeded had Tommy's hearing been at a hundred percent. Most of all, however, it was terrible bad luck for the Glaive themselves, as they would find out soon enough.

And if Billy was right and there was no such thing as The Glaive, well… the responsible parties would still regret this. She could think of a few ways to get back at Tommy and Snake Eyes if need be.

* * *

They followed the river up the mountain at a slow pace, eyes peeled for anything that could be described as a dragon tied to a tree. Between this careful search and having to pick their way through what was a fairly dense forest, Billy and Kamakura were too busy to bother continuing their earlier fight and instead contented themselves with occasional glares directed at each other.

It was mid morning by the time the trio finally found what they were looking for. Kamakura saw it first, and stopped in his tracks, his mouth opened.

A man-sized origami dragon, complete with fangs, clawed wings and long spindly tail, was attached to a tree, hanging about one meter off the ground, head turned slightly towards them.

"Where did anybody find a piece of paper this big?" Billy asked from behind him, clearly impressed as well.

"I think it's more than one," Jinx said. "Just the same… that's…" she trailed off.

"Does it just look incredible because I don't know any better?" Billy asked. "I mean, the details… it looks just like a dragon!"

"It's good," Jinx answered, approaching it for a closer look. "Like I thought, it's more than one piece, all glued together…" She shook her head to break the trance. "Never mind that. Where are the instructions?"

"Got them," Kamakura answered from the other side of the tree, having evidently managed to tear his eyes from the dragon faster than the other two. He emerged extracting a letter from a dirty envelope. "It was stuck under a rock just behind the tree," he explained. "Let's see… Dear applicants," Kamakura's upper lip curled up in a slight snarl at that, "the password is written somewhere on the dragon, in an invisible ink that will only become readable when lit with direct sunlight. As you can see, this will not happen if the dragon remains where it is."

Kamakura looked around and scowled, imitated by Jinx and Billy; the letter was right, the whole area was shady, except right above the river. "Be careful when moving the dragon to a sunnier location;" he continued, "the ink will wash out if wet, and unless you can put it back together, unfolding or tearing the dragon will result in the password being broken apart in dozens of pieces and impossible to read. Directions to your next trial can be found back at your campsite."

Jinx groaned. "The trees are too dense from here to the camp clearing," she said. "We'll never get it back there without tearing it apart and I'm useless at paper folding; there's no way I'd be able to rebuild it if we collapsed it." She looked at Billy and Kamakura expectantly.

They both shook their heads; they had no hope of recreating the dragon either.

"We can get it to the river," Kamakura said. "Let's just hold it above the water."

"If it's not too deep," Billy piped in. "Kamakura, we're both taller than Jinx; let's get in and see."

Kamakura rolled his eyes. His sword brother just had to get his two cents in, even if it was to state the bleeding obvious. Billy, busy taking most of his clothes off, didn't notice. Jinx, who was pointedly looking away from them both, missed it as well.

Not wanting to look like he was dawdling or just slow, Kamakura hurried to undress and both apprentices entered the water at the same time. Both willed themselves not to shiver and resolutely advanced into the frigid water. By the time they had taken a dozen steps and reached a sunlit area, the water was up to their shoulders and they had already lost the fight not to look as cold as they felt.

"Ok…k...k…kay," Kamakura stuttered through chattering teeth. "W...we ca...can k…k... keep our arms up t...t...to k…keep it dr...dry."

"I won't be able to read it if it's above your heads, though," Jinx pointed out from the shore.

Kamakura was not ready to have gone into the water for nothing. "W...w…we'll ju...just t…turn it unt...t...til th...the wr…writing is f…f…facing d…down."

"W…writing w…won't sh… show if it's f…f…facing d…down," Billy objected, his voice as broken by shivers as his brother's. Not feeling the cold on most of one leg didn't seem to be helping to keep him warm in the least. "W…won't b…b…be in th…the s….s…sunlight."

"I have a better idea anyway," Jinx supplied with a smile, producing a rope from her backpack and showing it to her younger brothers. "I'll throw this to you; one of you goes to the other side and ties it to a tree there, a couple of feet up from the water level. Then you pass me the other end and I tie it to a tree here, and I use it to cross above you and the dragon."

"P…p…problem s…solved and y…y…you g…g…get to st…stay d…dry," Billy remarked, clearly annoyed.

Jinx nodded with a grin. "One of you needs to get out and help me get the dragon down and to the shore without it bending, too," she added. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get moving, boys, it'll help you warm up!"

"I'll go tie the rope," Kamakura hurried to volunteer, preferring to get out in nothing but soaked underwear as far away from Jinx as he could. "Pass it here."

He caught the tossed rope and made his way to the far bank while his brother walked back to shore and out of the water. Billy carefully controlled his body language and expression to show no discomfort whatsoever despite the lack of concealment and the fact that thanks to the cold water, there was embarrassingly less to conceal than usual. Jinx resisted rolling her eyes at both boys and set to climbing the tree to detach the upper part of the dragon, directing Billy to secure and untie the lower part first. He dried his hands and followed her instructions without comment, still doing his very best to look cool as a cucumber.

* * *

Storm Shadow dropped his last envelope on Kamakura's bed, resisted the temptation to straighten it and nodded to himself, satisfied. He came back out of the tent to find Snake Eyes practicing with his sword, clearly done scattering his share of the clue containing envelopes around the camp as well.

"Well, it's not as nice as the dragon," Storm Shadow said casually, "but it should give them a bit of work."

Snake Eyes snickered; they had gone to see the paper dragon in question ahead of the apprentices, able to get there faster thanks to knowing where it was and not having to look for it or follow the winding course of the river. He signed to admit he'd been wondering how long it'd take his brother to seek praise.

Tommy pouted. "You're just jealous. You wouldn't hesitate to comment on how magnificent it is otherwise."

Snake Eyes signed that he had never imagined the fierce Young Master would be interested in origami.

"I'm not. I know how to do this dragon, and that's pretty much it. One of my teachers insisted I learn to teach me patience and perseverance."

Snake Eyes tilted his head.

"Alright," Storm Shadow admitted. "To teach me patience and perseverance, and to keep me busy for a while. He certainly picked the most complicated model he could find; the thing requires 62 squares of paper and hundreds of folds. On the plus side, the fact it requires so many pieces of paper makes it easier to increase its scale."

Snake Eyes bowed down theatrically and clapped. Storm Shadow chuckled.

"I'll have you know ones half that size won me dates on three separate occasions. The ladies in question were obviously more properly appreciative of paper art than you."

Snake Eyes put his hands up in surrender and headed out of the camp, gesturing his brother to follow. By their estimate, the apprentices would have only just found the dragon by now, but there was no sense taking chances by hanging around longer than necessary.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Confession time: the origami dragon model Storm Shadow made does not, as far as I know, exist. I just figured a good way for a teacher to keep young Tommy out of his hair for a while would be to set him to learn a crazy difficult origami project. The fact Tommy would subsequently use this arcane talent to woo girls kind of follows naturally.

Thank you for reading, and please review! :D


	10. Chapter 10: Booby Traps

**Chapter 10: Booby Traps**

"You've been quiet even by your standards," Storm Shadow remarked later that day, looking up from the wok in which he'd been cooking their dinner. "You also sound tense. What's on your mind?"

The two were back at their own mini-camp, about an hour downhill from the apprentice's camp. They had seen smoke from a couple of fires while climbing up from Hillview with Jinx and the boys, and therefore knew that their own, of which only the cinders now heating the wok were left, would not have looked particularly suspicious to their younger clan siblings.

Snake Eyes was sitting nearby, obviously lost in thoughts. He turned his head towards Tommy and clenched his jaw.

His brother cocked his head. "You're hesitant to tell me?" he asked incredulously. He smirked. "What is it, missing your woman already?"

Snake Eyes's shoulders sagged a bit and he signed to ask whether Tommy had known his protégé would see through their plan right away.

Storm Shadow's eyes widened before narrowing in a scowl.

"Do you really think I would have spent all that time planting the rumour of The Glaive if I'd known he'd guess so quickly?" he asked, clearly deeply insulted. "How do you think I'd be able to consider that the best use of my time?"

Snake Eyes blinked, then started signing something, stopped, shook his head and finally signed an apology before adding that it was still rather inconvenient that Billy had already caught on.

Tommy nodded, as much at the apology as at the statement. "To be honest, maybe we should have expected it." Snake Eyes gave him a look and Tommy shrugged. "Alright, alright," he admitted a bit reluctantly. "I should have expected it. It doesn't matter anyway."

Snake Eyes crossed his arms and cocked his head.

"We knew they'd figure it out eventually," Tommy said, waving a hand dismissively while stirring with the other. "We both agreed they wouldn't dare do anything less than play along once they did, and sure enough, Billy is playing along. And on top of that, he didn't manage to convince Kimi and Kamakura of the truth, so they're still in the dark and doing whatever The Glaive tells them to. Granted, they're bond to clue in sooner or later, and it all happened right away instead of in a few days, but what are they going to do? They still can't go against our obvious intent, now can they?"

Snake Eyes explained that Billy might already be thinking up ways to trump them while playing along and that once the other two figured it out as well, they would help.

Storm Shadow seemed to ponder that for a moment, then smirked. "It would require quite a high level of team work on their part to do something like that, wouldn't it? Whatever they did would have to convince us that we shouldn't plan on another way to make them bond. Sounds like a worthy challenge to me."

Snake Eyes considered that for a few seconds and eventually nodded, not so much satisfied as resigned to the fact they'd just have to wait things through and see how it went, while staying on their guard for any tricks from Jinx and the apprentices.

More for the sake of giving this particular topic of conversation a clean end than anything else, he got up to peek into their ice box and assess their supplies.

"We should be good for another day," Storm Shadow said. "I did plan all this, you know? We don't have to risk running into them."

Snake Eyes nodded approvingly: the second challenge would take Jinx, Kamakura and Billy close to the nearest village, and since their supplies would be almost entirely depleted by then – they had very little- they were sure to stock up at that time and therefore, not the following day.

"The third challenge is uphill again, too," Storm Shadow added, speaking loudly and frowning at the sky where a search and rescue helicopter was passing overhead, nearly drowning his voice. "Noisy piece of…"

Snake Eyes chuckled and reminded the other ninja that the rescue helicopters were good guys.

"I know that," Tommy grumbled, rubbing his ear with his free hand. "They're still loud, and the way this one sounds is making my skin crawl."

Snake Eyes abstained from comments: the noise from these particular helicopters WAS unnerving, even to him, so he could imagine how grating it was for his brother's overly sensitive ears.

* * *

"I don't see anything," Jinx said. "Try turning it."

She was standing comfortably on the rope strung tight above the river, looking down at the paper dragon held above their heads by the two apprentices.

Billy started to rotate the dragon clockwise, while Kamakura started to rotate it counter-clockwise. There was a small tearing sound.

"Stop!" Jinx cried out.

The command was not necessary, the two boys had also heard the rip and had stopped moving, eyes wide, breath held and staring at the dragon, willing it not to break in two and fall in the river. When it stayed whole for a few seconds, they let out their breaths in identical sighs of relief and glared at each other under their paper charge.

Jinx was about to warn them not to start arguing about who had been turning it the wrong way when Kamakura spoke.

"We turn it clockwise on three, okay?" he said. His voice was low and it was quite obvious to Jinx that he was trying very hard to control his temper. "Not go, three. Ready?"

Jinx smiled; Sean was, after all, a trained soldier. There was a job to do, he wasn't going to let personal squabbles get in the way of doing it. The only irritating part was that thanks to The Glaive, the Master's ridiculous idea of dragging them on a camping trip was actually working to make the two boys work together. She couldn't allow herself to doubt they would get Snake Eyes and Tommy back, so she held it as certain that the two would be pleased as punch that their plan had worked – even if it only had because they had gotten themselves in unplanned mortal danger.

"Ready," Billy answered. His tone was carefully controlled too; the very tone of someone determined not to look like the unreasonable one.

Kamakura counted and when he got to three, the dragon started rotating. Jinx scanned it carefully as it turned, and after about a quarter of a turn, called out to the boys to stop; she had spotted what looked like pale squiggles along the dragon's right side. As she watched, the squiggles darkened under the direct sunlight and resolved themselves into readily readable script. Just as they had been warned, the words were sprawled across no less than a dozen folds.

"Willingly evolutionary," she read. She frowned. "Great. The passwords aren't going to make any sense."

"Just out of curiosity," Billy asked Jinx as he and Kamakura were making their way back to the river's bank, "do you recognize the handwriting?"

"No," Jinx replied, jumping down from the rope on to firm ground. She turned her back on the boys and sat down to wait while they got dressed. "It was printed in a very impersonal hand. Anyone could have written it."

"And before you ask," Kamakura said, climbing out of the water and dropping his end of the dragon on the water's edge. "No, origami is not part of the Arashikage training."

"I know that," Billy said with a slight snarl, climbing out of the water and letting go of the dragon as well. As if Kamakura could teach him anything about their clan? "I've been in training longer than you have! And my lessons include non stop verbal commentaries! I know more about this clan than you do, not less!"

Kamakura made a valiant effort to continue to put his clothes on and not react, feeling it was the reasonable thing to do and that it would irritate his brother more than any reaction he could have. He heroically resisted pouncing on Billy for the completely uncalled dig on the fact his Sensei could not talk while teaching… for approximately two seconds.

Jinx lunged forward just in time to avoid most of the splash when the two apprentices fell back in the river. She let them wrestle and yell at each other for a couple of minutes before she turned towards them with a scowl.

"We have nine tasks left and there are clues for the next one at our campsite right now," she said, her voice as loud as she could make it without downright yelling. "Would you like to go back and start working on them, or would you rather see if they can be taken by the wind or some animal while you fool around here?"

The boys stopped fighting and muttered something or other, their eyes down and looking suitably sorry for their behaviour.

"Good. I'm going back to camp now, you two break the dragon down and carry it back. No need to litter."

Billy and Kamakura started getting out of the water again, their eyes firmly fixed away from each other to resist the temptation to start another fight. True to her word, Jinx immediately started for the camp, hoping the boys would hurry after and therefore stop wasting time. She dimly reflected that it was funny how being in charge of them took all the cuteness and fun out of their bickering.

The boys didn't catch up with her until she was almost back at the camp. They were, unsurprisingly, arguing again.

"How can you say that?" Kamakura asked, his tone filled with disbelief. "You did NOT stop arguing first!"

"Yes, I did," Billy snarled. "I wasn't arguing anymore, but you just kept at it!"

"Of course I kept talking; you were still not listening to me! You just ran out of arguments, but you couldn't bear to admit that you were wrong!"

"No, I just decided it wasn't worth arguing over! And I wasn't wrong! Look at you!"

Jinx couldn't help glancing back to see what Billy was talking about. Her eyes widened: he was carrying a neat stack of paper, while Kamakura was carrying a rather big ball of crumpled dragon remains. Obviously, the argument they were talking about had been about whether or not to break the dragon down in an orderly fashion.

Sean noticed her reaction and flushed. "I can carry it just fine! I…"

"You're arguing about who stopped arguing first on your last pointless argument," Jinx said, cutting him off. She could feel a vein throbbing on her forehead, and the fact that she knew she would have found this hilarious in different circumstances did not make her any less angry.

"Well, yeah!" Billy said, gesturing towards Kamakura. "Mr I-have-to-have-the-last-word-all-the-time here figures…"

"I do NOT have to have the last word all the time!" Kamakura protested. "And I'm not the one who just decides to stop listening when he's losing an argument! You might as well…"

"Enough."

Survival instinct can be a wonderful thing; Sean stopped mid sentence. It wasn't that Jinx had yelled – she had barely raised her voice at all – but the tone held enough threat to make even Beach Head proud. He heard Billy gulp, and the younger man did not utter a word.

"The Masters are still prisoners," she said, keeping the same icy tone, "or at least we are assuming they are," she added at Billy's intention. "Would you really rather argue over nothing than work on rescuing them? One word answers."

Billy swallowed his saliva again; he couldn't help it. Jinx sounded exactly like Storm Shadow did when he was seriously pissed. With his sensei, pain usually followed in the form of iron body or pain resistance training, or endurance training for the following 24 hours straight.

"No," both apprentices replied at the same time.

"Good," Jinx said. "Now let's go find those clues."

* * *

Jim Winslow whistled while he worked, happier than he had ever been. He was setting up one of several traps that would make capturing Storm Shadow and even Snake Eyes, who had now been confirmed to be with him, easy.

The prospect of his employer's preys and enemies being captured was not, however, the reason for his giddiness: the morning's events were.

Firefly's lieutenant had arrived very early, waking him up. That would normally have been a phenomenally bad start to the day, but Winslow was looking forward to bullying the rest of the village far too much to care about a few lost hours of sleep.

The takeover had been just as much fun as he'd expected. The lieutenant had brought dozens of men along with him, and the small army had basically ran the village over, dragging people out of bed and shepherding them all to the town square at gun point. Once there, the villagers had been informed of what was going on and that their one chance of survival was to act as though everything was normal while giving Firefly and his men anything they wanted, including the use of any space they wished to occupy. To demonstrate that any misbehaviour would be dealt with immediately, the sheriff had been killed with a thrown knife to his heart for crying out in outrage. His wife had followed by having her throat slit for crying over his body, and everyone had been real quiet and cooperative after that.

Jim Winslow had lost count of how many times the now ex-sheriff had arrested him, or otherwise been a pain in the ass. Adding the satisfaction of his death to the fact he had actually seen several people piss themselves when it had happened, and that even those who had managed to stay dry had looked completely terrified, officially made this the best day ever.

"Aren't you nervous at all?"

Winslow stopped whistling to chuckle at the question. He turned around to face his assigned work buddy: another one of Firefly's men, an obvious newbie who was comically afraid of the ninjas.

"Scaredy cat," he said. "This thing's going to knock Storm Shadow right out, and Snake Eyes won't be feeling that perky either; nobody would. No worries, Stan."

"It's Sam. I sure hope you're right; I heard the boss tell his client that he figured they'd be here day after tomorrow at the latest."

"Yeah?" Winslow asked, suddenly much more interested in his companion. "What else did he say?"

"Just how he was spying on him with that fake search and rescue copter, and how they just have a little ice box and that Storm Shadow isn't going to be eating out of cans so he's going to come get supplies."

Winslow frowned, puzzled. "How is he sure he won't just eat canned foods and dried stuff for a bit? I've done that when I've gone camping."

"No idea, but his client agreed. He even laughed. Did you see him? I couldn't see the screen from where I was, but some of the guys say he's creepy as all out."

"Who cares?" Winslow said, losing interest and going back to putting the trap together. "He pays the boss good, the boss pays us good. He can look like whatever he wants as far as I'm concerned."

The other man pondered that for a second, then shrugged and got back to work, silently praying that Winslow was right about the traps' effectiveness.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Many thanks to WillWrite4Fics for the continuous support and for brainstorming with me. The idea of the apprentices arguing over who stopped arguing first was hers, and I'm very grateful she allowed me to use it.


	11. Chapter 11: Busted!

**Chapter 11: Busted**

After a thorough search of the campsite, Billy, Jinx and Kamakura found themselves with nine clues in the shape of nine narrow strips of paper of varying lengths, each inscribed with one or two words. The trio laid them out face up on the ground and kneeled around them.

"Well, we obviously have to put them in order. I wish we knew how many there are, though," Kamakura mused, scratching his head. "What if we missed one?"

Billy cocked his head and his eye widened a bit. "I think that's all of them," he said. "Look!"

He picked up two of the shorter strips of paper, lined them up next to each other with a small gap in between, laid a longer one a bit below them, and repeated the pattern twice more with the remaining six strips. Jinx and Kamakura's eyes widened: the arrangement clearly formed the symbol of the Arashikage.

"Uh," Kamakura said. "They must have seen the symbol on the masters' arms and decided to use it."

"I think you're right," Jinx said. "It can't be a coincidence that all the lengths match up like that." She turned to Billy. "And don't you say it proves Tommy and Snake Eyes are actually behind all this."

"No," Billy said, shrugging. "If there is a Glaive, I could see them using the masters' tattoos as a clue for us. It's not even as nuts as setting up these trials in the first place."

Kamakura shot him an annoyed look. "Nobody is saying that they're sane."

"Boys. Focus."

The two apprentices turned their attention back to the clues. Along with Jinx, they started re-arranging the strips of paper, trying to form a sentence that made sense. Billy batted their hands away after a minute and lined the papers up, again forming the Arashikage symbol, but this time in an order that revealed the instructions:

'Tomorrow morning, look for this symbol down the river, near the village.'

"I was trying to do that," Kamakura muttered.

"Then I was messing you both up," Jinx quickly said to try and avoid an argument. She got up and stretched. "Well, looks like we have the rest of the day free. Katas, both of you."

Billy got up and started warming up. Kamakura hesitated, thinking that there had to be some better use of their time.

"Should we go get some supplies?" he suggested. "We may hear about The Glaive while we're in town."

Billy tutted. "Anything not to work, isn't it? Why did you even start ninja training if you don't want to train?"

"You may be so behind that you still desperately need to practice your katas all the time, but I'm not!" Kamakura said, his upper lip curling up in a snarl. "I just think we should put our time to better use!"

Billy snorted loudly. "Oh, really? Know them enough not to practice, do you? Funny how even Snake Eyes still does them. I guess HE likes to waste his time? Oh, no, wait. I know what it is. I am SO sorry, Sean, I honestly simply didn't realize you had perfect body memory, like Sensei. Although he still does his katas too," he mused, pretending to be thinking very hard. "Says he can always improve his speed. But you're way too good already to bother with that, aren't you?"

Kamakura's eyes narrowed. He felt the blood rush to his face but forced himself to remain calm.

"I know I still need to practice! I just don't think my own personal development should be my highest priority right now! Our masters are in danger! Or have you forgotten already?"

Billy sagged and groaned. "They're not in…"

"It'd be a waste of time to go to the village now when we already know we'll be close to it tomorrow morning," Jinx said, cutting him off. "And as long as we're doing what we've been told, the masters should be fine. So! There's no reason to go off on a wild goose chase in the village; there's no way The Glaive is going to be that easy to find anyway. Katas," she repeated in a stern tone. "Now."

Billy went back to his warm-ups without another word and Kamakura dutifully started his. Jinx started her own daily routine as well and when she was done, instructed the boys to practice with throwing weapons while she fixed some lunch. She wasn't much of a cook at all, but she'd tasted Billy's cooking in San Francisco once and it had been one time too many. As for Sean, she had seen him fix himself snacks in the evenings and was determined never to try anything he might prepare. She sighed wistfully as she got some meat, vegetables and noodles out, reflecting that if Tommy and Snake Eyes were indeed playing them, she'd get Billy and Kamakura to help her make a meal and then force the masters to eat it as punishment. After all, if Billy was right, her cousin and Snake Eyes had gone to great lengths to help them learn to work together, so it was only fitting that they grant their wish and use teamwork to mildly poison them both.

* * *

Lunch out of the way, much to the relief of all concerned, Jinx gave the apprentices some down time. She didn't give an explanation so as not to appear to be making things easy on Kamakura, but her intent was to allow the young red head to hit the books Snake Eyes had given him to study.

Sean took the hint and immediately fetched said books. He settled with them in the shade of a tree and set to work. Billy cocked his head, obviously thinking.

Jinx snickered. "Not used to having free time, are you?"

"Just thinking…" Billy replied without looking at her, sounding deep in thoughts. He didn't appear to have actually registered what she had said at all. He turned to her. "Do you still have the two notes from The Glaive? And the nine clues?"

Jinx pulled the pieces of paper from her pocket. "What are you hoping to find in them?" she asked, holding them out to him. "We already agreed the handwriting could be anybody's."

The young man took the two sheets and the nine little strips. "Maybe," he said. He walked off to sit on the opposite side of the camp from Kamakura and started examining the various notes, flipping back and forth between them and holding them up to the sunlight. Jinx let him to it and went to get one of her own study books.

She wasn't even two pages in when Billy called out.

"Jinx? Kamakura? Can you come here for a minute, please? I want to show you something."

Any politeness imparted to the request by the wording was ruined by the intolerably smug tone with which it was said. Jinx automatically braced herself, both for an explosion on Sean's part and for Billy to present them with what he probably thought was an iron-clad proof that there was no Glaive and which would probably turn out to be as flimsy as his previous arguments.

"Don't you sound proud of yourself," Sean sneered without getting up, somewhat trumping her prediction. "What is it? Figured out what all those squiggly lines were?"

"I read the clues," the brunette reminded him, still sounding extremely happy with himself. "Just come over, will you? I'm trying to put your minds at ease."

Jinx sighed; there was nothing to be gained by refusing to even hear the young man out. She got up and walked over, imitated with obvious ill will by Kamakura.

Billy smiled in anticipated victory. He kneeled down and laid the eleven pieces of paper on the ground in front of him, one next to the other. Jinx and Kamakura sat down cross-legged and obligingly looked at them.

Their younger brother cleared his throat. "These five clues are written in the same hand," he said, pointing at five of the nine strips of paper, "but not the other four. A second person wrote them, I'm sure of it. You can see the difference, can't you?"

Kamakura and Jinx looked from one set of clues to the other before nodding; the four notes Billy had not pointed at were indeed written in a different hand, even though both writers had used an impersonal print.

Billy pointed at the pieces written by the second writer. "Now these four look pretty normal. But these five… look at this one, that's the one that made me look closer."

He pointed at one of the longer clues, on which were written the words 'the village'. "See how the E's both have a slight slant on the vertical line?" he said. "They also have a very slightly shorter middle horizontal line."

"Just barely," Kamakura said, picking up the piece for a closer look. "Besides, are you trying to say it was written by a sloppy writer? That would just rule OUT Sensei."

"The key word there was 'both'," Billy said, grinning. "I checked the longer notes, and sure enough, every single E has the exact same quirks. I put some of them over one another and then aligned them to the sunlight to see through the paper, and they all match exactly."

Jinx's eyes had widened as Billy was speaking. She grabbed some notes, lined them up to the sunlight, and aligned them to superpose pairs of G's. "The G's are perfectly consistent too," she growled after checking a few. "I'm going to kill him."

"I also checked the A's, the S's and the N's," Billy said, buffing his nails. "Are you following, Kamakura?"

"Nobody writes that consistently," Sean said, checking some letters himself. "This must actually be a computer font. But why does that prove…"

"It's not a computer font," Billy said. "The ink flow was not as consistent as the writing, see?" He pointed out a few spots where the ink was slightly thicker or thinner.

"There ARE people who write that consistently;" Jinx said in response to Kamakura's comment, "anyone with perfect body memory. Once they've learned how to write a particular symbol, they'll unconsciously do it the exact same way every single time afterward because their muscle memory will repeat the exact same minute movements that they memorized. For anyone else, yeah, it'd be impossible. Tommy writes like this, I've seen it. In all three systems… of course it'd be the same way for romaji. I'm so used to it, I never even thought of it."

Kamakura's eyes were wide too by that point. "That… but… Sensei wouldn't… would he?"

"There's something I haven't told you, too," Jinx said in a low voice. She looked at Billy. "I didn't want to give more fuel to your theory because I thought it had to be a coincidence. It's not like origami is a particularly rare hobby in Japan." She sighed. "Teachers back home sometimes give busy work to students they feel need to cool down a bit, or just to keep them busy when they can't teach them or don't want to. I looked disgruntled about it once, so I was sent running around the compound ten times while carrying weight."

"So you traded whatever the busywork was for a hard workout?" Kamakura said. "That doesn't sound like a bad deal."

Jinx smiled indulgently. "It's a winding run and the compound is big; it took all day. When I was done, the teacher laughed at me and told me even my cousin had had the sense not to complain about the assignments he received, even the insanely long origami project he'd once given him. And then he sent me off to go do the task he had first given me. "

"That would have added fuel to my 'theory' all right," Billy said, scowling at her. "That insanely long origami project, it had to be the dragon; I've never seen him make anything else with paper. Have you?"

She shook her head. "Had to be," she agreed. Her eyes suddenly widened and she sighed. "Definitely the dragon," she said in a groan, pinching the bridge of her nose. "How did I forget this? One of the older students told me once she liked his dragon…I had no idea was she was talking about at the time and later, I figured she used 'dragon' to mean something else. Stop laughing or I swear I'm telling Sean about the talk with your mom and Tommy."

Billy immediately sobered up and treated her to a hurt puppy look.

Sean raised an eyebrow and made a mental note to eventually weasel the full details out of Jinx; judging from Billy's reaction and what he knew of Storm Shadow, it promised to be very satisfyingly embarrassing for his sword brother.

He looked down, thinking. It was rather difficult by now to argue against Billy's theory. And truth be told, he COULD picture Jinx's cousin planning this and talking Snake Eyes into it; not only was Tommy Arashikage a very devious man, he could talk people's ears off. Maybe that was even what Billy had meant when he'd mentioned a running commentary; maybe he hadn't been poking fun at Snake Eyes but at his own Sensei. Yet another mark of disrespect... the boy really was a hopeless case.

But then, Kamakura regularly had lessons with the Young Master, most notably archery and seeing ear, and he could attest himself that the ex Cobra did indeed provide, as his apprentice had put it, a pretty constant running commentary. The man believed in multi tasking and habitually gave philosophy and history lessons at the very same time they were training in something else. Even though he didn't spend a whole lot of time with Storm Shadow, Sean was treated at least weekly to some obscure statement, oftentimes even more nonsensical than the one from the previous night concerning letting go of people who aren't gone. His eyebrows shot up as a process of thoughts association caused one particular Storm Shadow-ism to come back to mind.

"If you can fold a beautiful dragon but nothing else, you're no master," he said.

Jinx blinked at him. Billy's eye was wide. Kamakura cleared his throat. "It was longer when he said it, but I can't remember the rest. I think it was mostly a bunch more adjectives? Oh, and he said what you were instead… I think a one-trick pony or something like that. He was telling me that I shouldn't neglect archery just because I was good with swords."

"Tommy said that to you?" Jinx asked, putting the emphasis on her cousin's name.

Sean nodded. "Kind of cinches it, doesn't it?" he said with a sigh. "I just remembered it. He says stuff like that a lot."

Billy chuckled. Sean's eyes narrowed at him. "You're laughing at your own…?"

"Don't answer that," Jinx cut him off, shooting Billy a warning look.

Billy turned his glare to her. "Why not?"

The kunoichi acquired a slightly scary smile. "Because I want you two to start at the beginning. I promise you we'll get back to Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes for this, but the last thing I want is for them to come up with a plan B. And you know they will if this one fails."

"It's already failed," Billy pointed out. "We figured them out after doing just one challenge."

"Are you saying you want us to pretend we're still clueless?" Kamakura asked.

Jinx shrugged. "Nah. For all we know, they're spying on us right now. But I'm afraid you're quite wrong, young William; the objective was never to make us complete ten challenges. And besides, we still will; I'm guessing the masters will refuse to let them go to waste. But for now, you two are spending the rest of the day, and the night if necessary, talking this out. I'll play mediator if absolutely necessary."

"I start," Kamakura immediately declared.

Billy rolled his eye. "So, start," he said. He turned to Jinx. "We get to plan something fun after this, right?"

* * *

Mindbender landed his craft carefully and clambered out as regally as he could. His efforts were wasted: the blasted mercenary, leaning casually in the doorway of the local police station, still laughed at him. The scientist turned towards Firefly and glowered.

"I do apologize, Doctor," the mercenary said in a tone that conveyed no regret at all, "but you actually came here in a trouble bubble? These things don't even need a self destruct button; self-destruct is their default and only mode."

"I'm in exile, Firefly," Mindbender growled. "I was forced to flee, and I took what I could. This unit is in better condition than any of the helicopters we escaped with."

"I'll believe that," Firefly chuckled. "Come, step in my office." He opened the door for his client and invited him inside with a sweep of his arm.

Mindbender walked inside the station, followed by the other man, and both sat down at the reception desk.

"Do you have him yet?" Mindbender asked right away. "You didn't kill him, did you?"

Firefly rolled his eyes. "Of course I killed him," he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "It is my fondest dream to set every remaining member of the clan on a vendetta against me. The deal was for capturing him, Mindbender," he continued, all traces of sarcasm gone. "He stays alive. And no, I don't have him yet. My traps are set and I expect him to spring them sometimes tomorrow."

"I have no desire to change our agreement; he is more useful to me alive than dead. Do you want to know what I'm up to?" he asked.

Firefly shrugged. "Not particularly," he said, waving his hand dismissingly. "Some kind of genetic experiment."

Mindbender nodded, satisfied. Firefly having no interest in his plans and dismissing them as mere experiments suited him perfectly: it made it that much less likely that the mercenary would find out exactly what those plans were and decide to warn the Commander that Cobra would soon be ruled by a brand new Emperor.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

No, no, don't run! Please trust me on this! I have plans for Serpentor, and I think they're good plans, honest!

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the long time between updates. I honestly thought it'd be faster this time, but real life stuff is going on; bad stuff that put my desire to write below zero for a while.

Motivation is still up and down, and will be for a good long while. I apologize in advance if updates continue to be slow. I'll try to make them closer together, but I can't promise anything.


	12. Chapter 12: Dirty Laundry

**Author's Notes**

Because it comes up in this chapter and this part of my timeline is AU, I figured I should remind you or inform you that rather than have Billy lose his eye and leg at the same time Candy and the Soft Master died, I changed things around and he was injured by Cobra troops while being escorted from Little Harlem to the Pit by Snake Eyes. If you're curious, you can read the details in Arashikage. /end shameless plug

* * *

**Chapter 12 : Dirty Laundry**

Kamakura and Billy sat facing each other on opposite sides of the currently empty fire pit. Jinx moved her seat to the side and back a little while making sure it was situated exactly at the same distance from both young men. The message was clear: she wasn't on either one's side, and she wasn't part of the discussion unless she had to.

Billy leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, and glared at Kamakura. Sean sat straight, his fists on his thighs, and glared back.

"Well?" Billy said. "Out with it. Let's hear my crimes."

Sean's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Jinx suggested we start at the beginning… I agree. You held back information that would have been useful to the Springfield resistance for YEARS. If you hadn't, they might have been able to stop Cobra before it grew to what it is now."

Billy's eye widened and for a moment, his mind drew a blank on what to answer. He knew what Sean was referring to, of course – he'd joined the resistance after running away from his father by way of stowing away on a boat heading back to the Cobra-run town from Cobra Island. The problem was, he had effectively blocked the memory of who his father was by the time he had become aware there was a resistance and was old enough to realize his father was a problem for more than just him.

"That's not fair, Sean," Jinx intervened. "He wasn't withholding that stuff, he didn't remember it."

"I know; that's what I was getting at," Sean replied. He turned to Billy. "I know that's not your fault at all, and I don't blame you for it. It had bad consequences, but you're not responsible for them."

Billy blinked, then frowned. "Aren't you noble. So what is it that's not YOUR fault, then?"

"Me?" Sean asked, his voice rising in disbelief. "I've never done anything that helped Cobra! DESPITE being raised a Cobra kid!"

"Yeah," Billy said with a snort. "Kicking Spirit when he was already injured doesn't really count as helping, does it?"

Kamakura reddened and got up, but Billy started talking again before his brother could either start talking or jump at him. "But I know that's not your fault at all," he parroted, "and I don't blame you for it."

Kamakura's scowl deepened. "I didn't think you did. I didn't even think you'd bring it up. Just like I didn't intend to remark on the way YOU were raised."

"That's the first thing you talked about!" Billy cried out.

"Not really," Jinx pointed out. "He brought up your failure to provide information you didn't remember, not your relationship to the Commander."

Kamakura nodded at her.

"Fine," Billy said, raising his hands in surrender. "Then he still didn't answer my question. He says he doesn't blame me for something that had 'bad consequences'. So what is it he figures I shouldn't blame HIM for?"

"Not ME, you idiot! Sensei!"

Both Jinx and Billy stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Snake Eyes?" Billy stammered after a couple of seconds. "You think I blame him for what happened between him and Sensei? But…"

"No!" Kamakura cut him off impatiently. "Stop playing dumb, will you? You haven't forgiven him for your eye and your leg! He was supposed to keep you safe and he couldn't, and that's why you have no respect for him!"

Billy was once more reduced to staring, but also found himself unable to think of a way to respond to the ludicrous accusation other than by screaming.

"Sean…" Jinx started.

Billy cut her off with a string of curses interspersed with just enough words to signify that Kamakura was out of his mind. He was up and staring down at Kamakura, his fists clenched and clearly itching to hit his brother.

"Hit a nerve, did I?" Sean replied coolly.

Billy screamed some more curses at him, then took a deep breath. "Okay, one, I don't blame Snake Eyes; I blame the troopers that were trying to blow us up!" he said, his voice steadily rising as his control slipped again. "Two, you've got SOME nerve accusing ME of holding a grudge against YOUR sensei!"

Kamakura looked puzzled for about one second before his eyes narrowed in a scowl. "What's THAT supposed to mean?" he growled.

"It means that you act all proper and polite, but you still think Tommy is a liability instead of a trusted teacher! You just see the ex Cobra who sent your godfather on a crazy dangerous mission when they all thought that Scarlett was dying!"

It was Kamakura's turn to be speechless for a moment. "Just because I remember he screwed up on that doesn't mean I don't trust him!" he finally yelled, getting up as well and almost butting head with his sword brother.

Jinx rolled her eyes. This wasn't a very good start; by her estimation, the two apprentices would start brawling in less than ten seconds if she didn't intervene. "Sit," she ordered. "Both of you. One minute pause."

She kept an eye on her watch as the two young men sat back in their chair, throwing her disgusted looks that plainly showed they each felt she was siding with the other.

"All right," she said when the minute was up. "Deep breath…" She waited until they had both taken a deep, slow breath. "Okay. Billy, your turn."

"It's not that you remember it that's the problem," Billy said, sounding calm but also clearly disgusted, "The problem is, that's ALL you see. He's one of the masters of your clan, he thinks of all of us - including you - as family, and you… you just put up with him."

Jinx bit her tongue; as wrong as Billy was, this needed to stay between the two boys. Besides, she wanted to know whether Sean would manage to stay calm enough to make the conversation advance.

Kamakura's brow furrowed. "I have no idea what makes you think that," he said. "It's just not true. Yes, I think he messed up when he sent Sensei to Sierra Gordo. He… he tends to get crazy ideas whenever he's worried for someone, and he acts on them. That's not my opinion, it's a fact." He sighed. "If you must know, I think his dedication is admirable. He needs someone to knock some sense into him now and again, but I would trust him with my life just as much as I would Sensei."

Billy didn't answer right away. Kamakura seemed sincere, and considering how bad a liar he was, that meant something. He eventually decided that if Sean's response had been satisfactory, a similar format may work for him too.

"I have no idea what makes you think I don't respect Snake Eyes, or that I blame him for anything," he finally said.

Kamakura barked a laugh. "No idea? Not a one? Well, let's see… there's the talking back, the smart ass remarks, the absence of bowing…"

"I bow when I'm supposed to!" Billy protested. "That just doesn't include every bloody time he walks by!"

"Don't play dumb," Kamakura growled. "I'll detail every single instance I can remember if I have to, but I really think we can put the next two hours to better use than that. The point is, you're r…" Sean stopped, thinking, measuring his words so that Billy would not be able to fight over them and deny the facts because of semantics. "Your general behaviour does not show respect. You completely lack decorum and like I just said, you talk back a lot. You're always questioning what they're doing; you haven't stopped questioning this trip since they told us about it! And then there's the smart mouth! You're not exactly acting like you have the fear of God in you, are you?"

Billy had been listening patiently, looking more bored than anything, but the last remark drew a scowl. "And you say you trust them?" he snarled. "You're telling me we should be afraid of them, that they're going to turn on us if we don't suck up enough!"

"Of course not!" Kamakura cried out. "But we should still…"

"What?" Billy interrupted him, his voice rising. "Pretend that's what we think? You think acting like we're scared they'll get mad at us shows we appreciate what they do for us, do you? Like there's not already enough people who don't trust them and think that they might go on some kind of ninja rampage if someone pisses them off?"

"STOP. PLAYING. DUMB!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE BEING STUPID!"

"Time out," Jinx said before Kamakura could start on another response. "Yelling insults at each other isn't going to work, boys. Ten minutes."

Billy immediately stomped away.

Kamakura rolled his eyes at him and snorted. "You know, I overheard a greenshirt the other day saying it was funny how Billy always seemed so much more relax than me. Who's been cursing like a sailor, hm?"

"It usually IS the other way around," she remarked. "You fire up way easier than he does, you can't very well deny that. What do you think made him so angry?"

Kamakura frowned at the question. Something in Jinx's tone told him she knew the answer, but it was just as clear that she was going to make him figure it out on his own rather than tell him. He got up to stretch his legs and hopefully clear his mind a bit, walking in the opposite direction the son of one of the clan's worst enemy had gone.

Jinx sighed and shook her head. All things considered, the conversation didn't seem to be going too badly, but it was a shame the two boys were too busy firing back at each other to actually take in most of each other's meanings… at this rate, it really would take them all day and all night to figure each other out.

* * *

The man known as Cobra Commander was having a bad day. Actually, that wasn't quite true: nothing bad had yet happened on this particular day. The problem was, the Commander had been having a horrible month and although today was shaping up to be fairly neutral on the good to bad scale, it did nothing to fix the problems that had made recent times miserable. Therefore, the founder of Cobra felt perfectly entitled to be in a rotten mood as he paced around his throne room, trying to think of a solution to the crisis that had befallen him.

Destro and the Baroness, along with all their considerable assets, loyal troops and sheer talent, had turned on him. And worse yet, his most basic contingency plan – brainwashing them back to his side – had been made much more complicated to implement due to Mindbender allying himself with the traitors and, not being able to take it with him, sabotaging the brainwave scanner before he left.

That was possibly the most infuriating part of it all. He'd always treated Mindbender better than well, allowing him near infinite freedom in his research and granting most any resource he asked for. He had done everything to ensure the scientist's loyalty because as mad as he was, the monocled, cape wearing diva was ridiculously useful.

His eyes narrowed under his cowl. That was incorrect; the good doctor's betrayal was not the most infuriating part of the whole disaster. That distinction belonged to the fact the Commander had known Destro and the Baroness were not to be trusted and that he'd had several plans ready to implement should they start misbehaving. He had been ready.

And yet they had pulled off a coup and left with nearly half his troops, not to mention far too much equipment and weaponry for his taste. The operation had been well planned, and flawlessly executed. All his careful planning had been for nothing; he'd had no chance of escaping the trap.

The traitors had waited for him to attempt once again to bring his son home, and then had made themselves into the perfect employees; they had managed everything admirably, making any intervention on his part unnecessary, tricking him into spending more time and efforts on locating and capturing Billy than he had originally intended. It made sense at the time; as long as nothing else required his immediate attention, securing a semi-trained ninja that could also be used as bait for a fully trained one was a worthwhile pursuit even if one ignored the family ties.

And then, seemingly overnight, the troops and even parts of the chain of command had started to question the Commander's ability to lead Cobra, implying he was no longer dedicated to the cause, that he was only interested in rejoining with his son and wife and starting a new life. The accusations were of course ridiculous: he had no use for his wife and the intent was not for him to start a new life but for the boy to join the life he had now.

The Commander had easily guessed, at that point, that Destro and the Baroness were trying to turn his organization against him. The couple's timely disappearance had cemented that certainty. He'd held a conference then, a pep talk rally of sorts, promising something very big, very soon. The troops had left with renewed confidence and love for their leader, but the reprieve had been short lived: within a day, every point he had made in his speech was being criticized or questioned.

Since words were not solving the issue, the Commander had gone to see Mindbender to demand the control chips that had long since been implanted in Destro and the Baroness be activated. Mindbender had followed the order and acted surprised to discover that the chips had been removed.

The situation, by then, was desperate. The Commander had but a semblance of control over a lot of the troops and was losing a bit more of it every hour. He suspected, by then, that Mindbender was no longer loyal to him and may even be helping to spur the rebellion with some kind of mass hypnosis. Reluctant to start executing every suspected traitor – he was a firm believer that defective but normally useful people should be fixed, not eliminated - he'd resorted to mounting a desperate show of force, doomed to failure from the start but meant to show the fires were still burning, so to speak.

The attack had gone worse than anticipated, and the traitors had found a way to communicate with the troops enough to further increase doubts as to his leading abilities. He'd heard mutters accusing him of setting them up for failure to cover his own incompetence and had decided that enough was enough.

He'd shot the small group of troopers the mutter had originated from, having no idea who had actually spoken, and announced that until further notice, anyone libelling him or insulting him would be considered a traitor and treated as such.

Unsurprisingly, all hell had broken loose. He'd escaped unharmed, thanks to the fact he had been surrounded by his most loyal vipers, but by the time things had calmed down again, half his personnel was either dead or gone into hiding. A visit to Mindbender's lab had found the scientist gone as well and the brainwave scanner broken. The Commander's remaining technicians and scientists had been able to fix it, but he knew better than to think that Destro would assume it was destroyed for good – more likely than not, the weapon's dealer would laugh at Mindbender's little act of sabotage as the childish outburst it had been.

The only positive was that he had avoided being assassinated, which had no doubt been but a matter of time with so many rebellious troops, and that the men and women that remained were the loyal ones.

That did not come near making up for everything else, thus the Commander's current murderous mood.

He was in the middle of a loud rant directed at the empty room on how this was all Billy's fault, and thus Storm Shadow's fault, which meant it was really Snake Eyes' fault, when a tone announced an incoming call on his video line. He glared at the screen but opened the communication; the caller was Firefly, and there was an off chance the mercenary had something interesting to offer him.

"This had better be good, Firefly," he hissed. "I am in no mood to tolerate your wasting my time."

He was answered by a snort. "My time is precious too, O Cobra Commander. Or have you chosen a new title yet? I hear you're not commanding much of Cobra lately."

The Commander narrowed his eyes at the screen. "And yet you find the time to make stupid little jokes," he snarled.

"I was merely wondering whether you could use a ninja or two at the moment," Firefly said.

"Define 'ninja'. I'm done chasing after that traitor son of mine, he's not worth the aggravation."

"Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. I will have them by this time tomorrow."

The Commander's mouth hung open under his cowl for a moment. "Are you sure?" he asked. "You've refused to confront either of them in the past."

"Sure enough to accept payment on pick-up rather than request it in advance," Firefly replied.

The Commander smiled; having both Arashikage masters under his paw would definitely make gaining control back over the whole of Cobra much easier.

"An interesting offer," he hissed, "provided you take into account my currently reduced financial means."

Firefly chuckled. With the money he was getting from Mindbender, whatever he managed to squeeze out of the Commander was just gravy, so the expert con man's bargaining did not particularly worry him. Besides, he was no slouch as a negotiator himself.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Thanks for reading! I really hope that wasn't too much talking… let me know!


	13. Chapter 13: Leg Work

**Chapter 13: Leg Work**

Jinx leaned back in her chair and waited patiently. The two apprentices were back and were both trying very hard to look at each other without snarling. When it became clear that she was not going to designate who was to speak first no matter how long they waited, Kamakura cleared his throat.

"I've been wondering why you got so angry earlier," he said.

Billy snorted. "It's a special talent you have."

"Seriously."

"Fine," Billy said, rolling his eye. "Seriously. You don't get anything else, so I'm just going to be totally direct from now on. First time I got angry earlier was because you were saying I had a problem with Snake Eyes, but I thought _you_ had one with Storm Shadow," Billy said. "You say you don't, and I don't think you're lying because you suck at lying, so I'm not angry about that anymore. So, do _you_ believe _me_ when I say I don't blame Snake Eyes for my leg and my eye?"

Kamakura mulled it over for a moment. "I believe you don't think you hold a grudge," he finally said.

Billy felt his hands close into fists of their own accord. "Oh, for crying out loud!" He took a deep breath and started again in a much calmer voice. "Look. Do you know what usually happens if you suddenly lose a leg or an arm?"

Kamakura bit back the first answer that came to his mind: a remark on not receiving an incredibly advanced prosthetic from a madman.

"You DIE," Billy answered himself almost immediately. "You bleed out in about a MINUTE. Now, notice something about me?" he asked, smirking rather unpleasantly. Again, he answered his own question before Sean had a chance to. "I'm alive! How did THAT happen? Hmm?"

Kamakura swallowed. He had been assuming himself that Snake Eyes had kept Billy alive after his leg had gotten blown up, but he hadn't expected Storm Shadow's apprentice to have arrived at the same conclusion.

"Sensei saved your life," he said. He sighed. "I'm glad to see you realize that."

Billy rolled his eye. "What am I, stupid?" he asked. "So, do you still think I'd go and blame him for missing a leg and an eye?"

"No," Kamakura said a bit sulkily. "Fine, I don't think you have a grudge against him. But since you're bringing up your leg… to paraphrase you, what are we, stupid?"

Billy blinked at him. "What? You think I have a debt of gratitude or something? The only reason the Commander replaced my leg was so I'd be more useful! Don't tell me you think I should get rid of it. I hope you're not THAT dumb."

"No," Kamakura said testily. "That would be weakening yourself for no reason, and you'd have to spend a lot of training time just rehabilitating. You don't deprive yourself of a good weapon or tool just because you don't like where it comes from. As for owing your father, you tell me. He didn't give you a choice when he had the first one installed, but what about the others?"

Billy frowned. "Others? What are you talking about?"

Kamakura scowled and clicked his tongue. "You're going to deny it to the end, are you? Oh yes, that absolutely proves you have nothing to hide!" His voice rose and he got up, fists clenched at his side and barely resisting the urge to point dramatically at Billy as he spelled out what, after all, he felt was a painfully obvious conclusion. "You were fourteen when you lost your leg, and shorter than Storm Shadow; you're now eighteen, and taller than him! And yet your artificial leg is still the exact same length as the one that grew with the rest of you!"

Comprehension dawned on Billy.

"You think I got the Commander to fit me for new ones as I outgrew the original," he said with a sigh. "And you figure he wouldn't do that if I was as much against Cobra as I say I am. You never thought of just asking about it, did you?"

"I'm asking now! Why did he agree to do that? He changed it more than once, too, didn't he? Storm Shadow would have noticed if you were out of balance any of the times you were back!"

"But neither he nor Snake Eyes ever wondered about it. Yep, you totally respect their intelligence and judgement, I can tell."

Kamakura weathered the blow. "The Young Master is blind when it comes to you, and I can imagine even Sensei can't reason with him on that. Now answer."

Jinx was sitting very stiffly by now, doing her very best not to interfere.

"Well, believe it or not, Doc - being a medical professional and all - thought of that too," Billy sneered. "First time I was back at the pit, actually."

He lifted the left leg of his pants to above his knee and showed his one remaining natural leg to Kamakura, twisting it to offer a better view of the side facing inward. He pointed at a series of pale, small scars that ran along the length of the leg. "See those? I never knew what they were; I just figured I'd been hit by shrapnel or something, like what happened for my eye. But Doc scanned me all over to check for hidden tech or chips because he wanted to know how the leg knew how much to grow and whether Cobra had slipped any more surprises inside me. He didn't find anything bad, but it turns out the scars are where they stuck in a bunch of sensors."

Kamakura cocked his head. "Sensors? For what?"

"They measure how long my left leg is. The right leg gets the readings and adjusts automatically. See how it's made of a bunch of overlapping panels on the outside?" He let go of the left leg of his pant and raised the right one a bit to expose part of his metallic limb. "It's the same way inside, everything is designed to stretch as needed."

Kamakura's eyes went wide and his face went red. "Ah… I see," he stammered. "That's… err… impressive. Very."

Billy nodded grimly. "I know. Reassured I'm not secretly crawling back to my dad to beg for a new leg every Christmas, now?"

Kamakura seemed too interested in the tips of his boots to look Billy in the eye, but muttered a 'sure'.

"My turn then," Billy said, suddenly sounding downright vicious. "I keep telling you and you keep ignoring it, so here it is nice and clear and direct: you're a suck-up. You're always soooo polite, with the perfect manners and a ton of decorum, but you're just like any other suck-up: it's just for show!"

"Excuse me?" Kamakura's flush deepened, though no longer from embarrassment.

"You heard me," Billy growled. "You thought they were just being stupid about my leg? Well that's a prime example. You don't trust them! You think they'll kick you out if you stop being the perfect student, you think they're stupid, or crazy, or whatever you want to call it! The point is you don't trust their judgement! On anything! You take a second to think about it each time they tell you to do something, you think this trip is completely stupid…"

"I do NOT, and it IS!" Kamakura cried out.

Jinx clenched her jaw to resist cheering in agreement about the camping trip.

"It's only kind of stupid," Billy argued. "It's silly, and it's annoying, but it's working! They wanted to force us to work together, and that's what we're doing, isn't it?" He shook his head and made a dismissive motion with his hand, waving aside this particular argument. "The point is, Snake Eyes has formed a very serious bond with you, he's relaying clan secrets to you, but for some reason, you live in fear of… of incurring his wrath or something! And each time one of them tells us to do something you don't like, you stall! You just stand there and think it over! What the hell is THAT about?" he finally exclaimed.

Kamakura clenched his fists and had to make a very conscious effort to stay in his chair. "You're the one who keeps questioning what they make you do!" he snarled. "Including this trip!"

"Yes, but not BEFORE I did what they said to! I know they have their reasons, I just want to know what they are! Unlike you, I don't keep wondering if I should even listen!"

"I do NOT do that! Just because I'm not as quick as you are at jumping right into painful exercises doesn't mean I'm considering not doing them!"

"Then what ARE you doing?"

"Reacting like an actual human being!"

Billy bit his tongue. He was dying to call his sword brother a coward, but even more than that, he wanted to drop this particular argument; Kamakura's hesitations were a minor symptom, they weren't the main problem.

"Whatever," he said, waving his hand dismissively again. "It's the sucking up I can't stand! Why do you think you always have to butter them up?"

"I don't think that!"

"Then why are you always doing it?"

Kamakura groaned in irritation. "You just don't get the concept at all, do you? It's called paying due respect! And did it occur to you at all that maybe, just maybe, some people are just naturally polite? I'm guessing it didn't."

Billy's brow furrowed and his upper lip curled up in a snarl. "You keep saying I'm rude, but I'm just acting normal! Sure, it looks rude next to you, because I don't lick their boots all day long!"

"Normal? You're treating them like… like schoolyard chums!"

Billy's eye narrowed. "I treat them like one of them told me point blank he was glad I trusted him enough to speak my mind and the other one never gave me the slightest sign that he minded that I did the same with him."

"Storm Shadow told you that?" Kamakura asked, frowning in obvious disbelief. "When? Why?"

"Yes, back in the Water Tower, and because it was the first time I had the nerve to tell him that the Order didn't exist and that Cobra had been brainwashing him. Up until then, I was playing along with everything he said because I was afraid to contradict the crazy ninja."

Kamakura sighed. "That wasn't actually him."

"Yes, it was," Billy snarled. "His memories were all wrong, but he was the same person. He had the same personality, right down to avoiding junk food like the plague. I know him a hell of a lot better than you do, Sean. I know exactly what's different about him from back then and what's the same." His tone was steadily rising closer to yelling than talking. "He's the same person he was when he broke me out; he's the same person who made me his apprentice! For crying out loud, he was GIDDY to have a student; I could tell even back then! Don't tell me that doesn't sound like him! And he's the same person who broke me out AGAIN later, that time instead of saving himself! And you… you stupid IDIOT, you want me to act like I don't trust him any more than some stranger? Like I'm afraid he's going to turn on me if I don't watch everything I say and if I don't mind my manners enough?" He snorted, and his tone dropped back down from yelling to a normal speaking voice. "I feel sorry for Mr. Collins. I bet you're the same with him, aren't you? Always worried he's going to just suddenly grow tired of you and walk away!"

Kamakura turned brick red nearly instantly and was suddenly on his feet, shaking in barely repressed anger.

"Do you think that's a good comparison?" Jinx suddenly asked, rising her voice to make sure both boys noticed.

Billy's breath caught and he flushed. Kamakura frowned in puzzlement.

"Wade Collins is Sean's adopted father," Jinx continued in a more normal voice. "Why would you think there's any connection between how he acts with his father and how either of you act with Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes?"

"I… well…" Billy stammered.

"That made no sense at all," Kamakura cut in. "That was just low! I changed my family name for a reason, you know? I don't give a damn about the genetics, Wade Collins is my father!"

Billy scowled at him, than at Jinx, than at the empty fire pit. He wasn't sure why it was so difficult to just say it. It was pretty well understood between them by now, had been for years. Jinx knew it, too; she was just forcing him to tell Sean. He turned an answer around in his head until he was satisfied that it was biting and sarcastic enough to make the point without being overly emotional.

He counted to ten and then just forced himself to speak. "Yeah, well, I feel the same way about Tommy," he blurted out.

He cursed under his breath; that had just spilled out and wasn't at ALL the biting and sarcastic response he had planned.

* * *

"You are a child, brother," Storm Shadow said grumpily. "Honestly, can't you do without your fix for a couple of days?"

The two ninjas were hiking towards Valleytown, much to Tommy's displeasure, who felt the trip was superfluous and a waste of time; time that would have been much better spent spying on their apprentices.

Snake Eyes, walking next to him, signed that he wouldn't have to if Tommy had kept his word and packed him some tea. He had discovered the omission a few minutes earlier, while looking through their supplies with the intent of brewing himself a cup.

"You could just share mine," Tommy grumbled.

Snake Eyes voicelessly snorted and signed that he was not about to settle for his brother's herbal, non caffeinated concoctions.

The other ninja rolled his eyes. "Addict."

Snake Eyes shrugged and asked whether the village had an actual grocery store or just a local convenience store.

"Kind of in between," Tommy answered, "big for a convenience store, small for a grocery store. I'm sure they'll have some instant tea… will that be satisfactory, Mr. Picky?"

Snake Eyes didn't dignify the comment with an answer; even cheap instant Orange Pekoe would be better than the stuff Tommy drank, and his brother had no right to call anyone picky when it came to food or drink.

Storm Shadow sulked for another few minutes but eventually, hiking in a mountainous forest on a beautiful day, surrounded by the sound of birds singing and of small animals scurrying along, wore down his bad mood.

"I wonder if Billy's convinced the other two yet," he mused, suddenly smiling mischievously. "We should definitely go listen in on them on the way back. Just think… if they all know The Glaive isn't real, we don't need to keep things believable anymore."

Snake Eyes pondered that for a moment and snickered. The two started going over the trials that were left and how they could be made better if there was no longer any need to try and maintain the illusion they had been conceived by strangers and non ninjas. Time flew and they soon found themselves at the edge of ValleyTown.

They both stopped walking and frowned.

"There are too many people in town," Storm Shadow said.

Snake Eyes nodded absently; he'd take Tommy's word for that; what had his nerves on edge were three brand new looking bird houses by the edge of the forest – people did not usually put up bird houses in a spot that didn't allow them to see some birds from their house. Neither did they usually put up several of them at once, in the middle of summer when the birds did not need extra food. He wanted away from those supposed bird houses, _now_, and was already bolting back towards the forest before Storm Shadow even finished his sentence, throwing some knives at the small wooden structures as he ran.

Tommy had moved while talking as well, and was running right beside him. He noticed what Snake Eyes was doing, but the trap activated before he had time to follow his brother's cue.

His ears exploded, taking his head with them – or at least that's what it felt like before he lost consciousness and everything went blissfully quiet.

Snake Eyes' brains shut down for a second, completely overwhelmed by the noise and the pain, and he slammed his hands on his ears before he could will his wits back. It only took him a second, and then he was opening his eyes and prying his hands off his ears to grab some more throwing knives. He became aware again of his other senses too, and felt a dozen needle pricks on his body. He threw his knives, more out of spite than anything else, right before passing out from the multiple doses of tranquilizer.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

You didn't think Firefly would take any chances and actually engage them in anything close to a fair fight, did you?


	14. Chapter 14: United in Adversity

**Chapter 14: United in Adversity**

Kamakura's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon?"

Billy felt a vein throbbing on his forehead. Considering he'd just went and blurted it out as plainly as anyone possibly could, Sean not getting it was downright infuriating. He took a deep breath and locked his eye with one of his sword brother's own.

"I said I feel the same way about Sensei as you do about Wade Collins," he repeated with a slight snarl.

Kamakura swallowed. That's what he thought he'd heard, but it was still a bit difficult to process. He wasn't entirely sure it wasn't grossly inappropriate; his thoughts went to the familiar cliché of a child mistakenly calling their grade school teacher 'mom'… the usual consequence was the class laughing and the teacher hiding their embarrassment in an effort to go easy on their student. "Does he… does he know?"

Billy resisted rolling his eye; as eager as he was to get his heart back off his sleeve, it was a legitimate question. "Yes."

"And… is he… is he okay with that?"

Billy's eye widened briefly before the young man sagged in exasperation. "Man, you're dense," he sighed.

Kamakura frowned and his cheeks coloured. "What am I supposed to do, guess? You think this is all healthy and normal, do you?"

Billy visibly tensed. Unhealthy, was it? And abnormal? Like he cared? His next words came out in a snarl that was dangerously close to a hiss. "You were just saying, JUST now, that he's blind about me. Does it LOOK to you like he's not okay with it? And what do you mean, it's not healthy?"

Kamakura sighed. "I mean that a sensei is not the same as a father. Look, you're right, he does ACT like he doesn't mind. How do you know he's not just trying to go easy on you?"

"He told me the same time I told him," Billy replied in an angry tone that was edging closer and closer to the Commander's trademark hiss.

"But you still refer to Cobra Commander as your father," Sean said.

Billy broke eye contact, looking down and to the side. He took a minute to decide he couldn't really avoid answering the question, and another to figure out where to start and how much detail to get into. "I was eight when I ran away," he finally said with a sigh. "I only started realizing how bad he was shortly before that. Until then, he was just my dad. He was busy, and we moved around a lot, and his employees were weird, but… he was just my busy dad, and he was the only parent I had anyway. I blocked those memories for a while, but I remember most of it now, and I remember before he took me away and pretended mom was dead, too. And… I KNOW he's bad, and I really, really want him stopped, but… he used to be normal. It wasn't just me not knowing any better, either, Mom remembers too. He just… he lost it when his brother died, is all. And he's just been getting worse and worse, but…" he trailed off.

"But where there's life, there's hope?" Kamakura said.

"He used to be a perfectly decent person; it's not like he's some kind of demon, born to be an instrument of evil," Billy said, rolling his eye at the ridicule of the very concept. "He obviously can't be allowed to run rampant, but it's pretty obvious there's something wrong with his head, and I think it's not fair to the person he used to be to not even TRY to make him better."

Sean made a face. "So you're hoping that he's eventually going to be captured, and Cobra is going to be stopped for good, and he'll recover his long lost sanity so you can be a family again?"

Billy frowned.

Kamakura started again before his sword brother could think of an answer. "Because then, what happens to the Young Master? He gets demoted to sensei or some sort of family friend?"

"No!" Billy cried out, throwing his arms out and sounding utterly exasperated. "What kind of… HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK THAT?"

"I told you, I can't guess!"

Billy buried his face in his hands for a second and could be heard drawing breath through his teeth.

"Fine," he groaned. "Fine, I'll just spell it out. Again. The Commander IS my biological father. The only thing I feel I owe him is to remember he wasn't always like this and acknowledge that he is sick and needs help. That's IT. If he ever does come back to his old self, I won't push him away but I won't elevate him, either. If he was ever stupid enough to demand I chose one family, I'd choose Sensei." He sighed, looking at the tip of his shoes and feeling himself blush. He really hated Jinx for forcing this conversation, now. His feelings should be his business, not Kamakura's. "And before you ask, Sensei never asked me to make that choice. In fact, he told me I didn't have to."

Kamakura took a while to chew on the new information and resisted demanding more details on Storm Shadow and Billy's understanding. His sword brother was clearly telling the truth, there really was no actual need to dig deeper on the subject.

"So, let me get this straight…" he eventually said. "You don't turn up the manners with the Young Master because you feel it'd be like saying you think he'll stop putting up with you if you don't act nice enough, and that'd be more insulting than anything else. Same as if I did the same with my father. I mean… some fathers raise their kids to be very proper and respectful of them, in fact my first dad was kind of like that, but…" he trailed off. "But yeah. Dad would just wonder what's wrong with me if I suddenly acted that way with him. And you figure that's how your sensei would feel too if you did it, and that's why you don't." He snorted disdainfully. "You know, NORMAL people like being nice back when they're grateful towards someone."

Billy, who had briefly thought that his sword brother was finally starting to see the light, clenched his fists and grunted in frustration. "You IDIOT," he growled. "What you're doing is NOT being nice! You're acting like everything they've done for you, everything they're still doing, somehow doesn't mean they care about you! Like you still need to win them over! That's not nice, that's insulting! You're not…"

"YOU ARE COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL!" Kamakura exploded, even springing up from his chair again, hands tensed into claws. He realized he was screaming, took a deep breath and started again in a very slightly calmer tone. "I'm not insulting them because unlike you, they can tell I'm neither faking nor sucking up! They know the reason I act respectful and grateful is simply that I am! I DARE you to come up with anything either of them ever said or did, ANYHTING, that even remotely suggests that they think anything else!" He barely paused; he didn't expect his younger brother to have a worthy answer anyway. "Honestly! Just because someone doesn't demand manners doesn't mean they don't deserve them! And if you owe a lot to someone, don't you think the least you can do is to not give them a reason to regret their kindness? Especially when you know they won't go back on it no matter what?"

Billy's expression went from a scowl to puzzlement, to surprise. "You're not worried they'll chuck you out," he said in a tone that made it clear the fact had just dawned on him. "You DO know Snake Eyes won't go back on his responsibility… you're just afraid he'll WISH he could. You think he may start regretting taking you in and of course, you don't want that."

Kamakura flushed and his frown deepened. "You said yourself I had to beg for training," he reminded Billy.

"Right after you told me I was wasting Sensei's time and that he was glad to get rid of me whenever I left again."

Kamakura shrugged. "The point is, even if you were just trying to rile me up, you were still right. I was pretty er… insistent when I asked Sensei to train me, and he didn't exactly jump on the chance to get a student. He had to think about it for days before he agreed to it."

"It IS a serious commitment," Jinx intervened. "It only makes sense to think about it carefully before you take on an apprentice… it doesn't mean Snake Eyes agreed reluctantly. He could have just refused."

Sean shook his head and looked down. "I found out after that he only agreed to it because I'm his godson," he muttered.

Billy's eye widened and Jinx's mouth fell open.

"You ACTUALLY believe that?" Billy asked. "You're not just wondering about it in the back of your head as a faint possibility; you think it's a fact? Are you nuts? There's no way Snake Eyes would agree to such a big, long term commitment just because of that! He'd have helped you find another teacher, maybe, but that's it! What do you think it means to take an apprentice? He's not just some teacher, he's effectively sworn to pass on as much knowledge as he possibly can to you and to protect you with his life!"

Jinx was nodding energetically at what Billy was saying. "Where did you get an idea like that?" she asked Kamakura, clearly in shock.

Kamakura frowned but kept his eyes down. "I overheard Thompson talking to another greenshirt," he said. "The other guy was teasing him because Sensei had apparently told him he didn't want any apprentice but yet here I was. Thompson never even got flustered, he told the guy that Snake Eyes had already explained to him that he had only taken me in because he couldn't very well turn down his godson. He wouldn't have been as calm as he was if he was making that up. And he did say that this was something Snake Eyes told him, not something he was guessing or deducting."

Jinx groaned. "Sean… Snake Eyes lied to him. He was avoiding an unpleasant conversation that would have ended in his telling Dave that he creeps him out."

"What, because of the werewolf thing?"

Billy snorted. "Try the fact Thompson enlisted just to try and get into the same unit as his idol. Snake Eyes feels the guy's basically been stalking him for years."

Kamakura's eyes widened. "He… what?"

"Thompson developed a fascination for him," Jinx explained, "and when he ended up convincing himself that Snake Eyes was a werewolf, he decided he needed to confront him about it and to convince him to get help before he lost control."

"And the Young Master wants to train him?" Sean asked disbelievingly. He glared at Billy, as if daring him to explain his sensei's actions.

Billy chuckled and raised his hands defensively. "I have no control over that," he said, "but he has his reasons, if it's any reassurance."

Kamakura couldn't quite keep his face neutral.

Billy chuckled. "Not really?" He cleared his throat and became serious again. "It comes down to character," he said. "Sensei likes the idea that this guy enrolled just so he could find Snake Eyes and help him out. He figures he went through a lot of trouble, you know? If you look at it as stalking, it looks really bad, but if you look at it as trying to help someone in need, it looks good."

Kamakura seemed to ponder for a moment, but suddenly frowned. "Wait. Isn't he a Ranger? Like Sensei?"

Billy nodded. "It's also no secret that he chose his specialties to increase his chances of working with Snake Eyes."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "And how, pray tell, is that not stalking and creepy as all out?"

"Depends on his motivations, don't you think? Sensei just sees it as more effort towards getting to Snake Eyes in time to stage a werewolf intervention. I mean, there's no question Thompson's a total fan boy, but…" he shrugged. "That's not really reprehensible, is it?" He cleared his throat again. "And then there's the potential. Tommy thinks Dave's got loads, because of the level he's at now without any real training. I mean, you do know he's a good commando, right? He's not here JUST to amuse the other greenshirts with his wacky theories."

"Noble motivations or not, it's still weird," Kamakura said. "Sensei is being very tolerant to not object to the Young Master leaving the offer of apprenticeship opened. But then, it's not like there's any chance Thompson will ever agree to train under Storm Shadow. EVEN with you buttering him up," he added at Billy's intention. "And don't pretend you're not, you've been schmoozing the guy ever since you've been back."

Billy shrugged. "He doesn't seem as angry with Sensei as before; I figure if I keep gently nudging him in the right direction, he might come around. Besides, WE're here because as sword brothers, we're supposed to get along, right? I might as well get a head start with Dave, just in case."

Kamakura snorted. "You're deluding yourself. Don't you know what the Young Master put those greenshirts through? And how much punishment duty they got out of it?"

"Hart's fine with him now," Billy pointed out. "Besides, Sensei got more punishment than they did," he added with a chuckle.

He had been around to witness part of Hawk's wrath, and knew for a fact that Tommy had received as much punishment duty as the four greenshirts put together. And he knew precisely what some of those duties had been, because his sensei had decreed he'd help with some of it so he could have some extra verbal lessons and also use the tasks as light training. Storm Shadow had completely missed the reference when Billy had started chanting "wax on, wax off" while scrubbing a wall, which was probably just as well.

"Yeah… I can't explain Hart," Sean said with a shrug. "But as far as the punishment duty goes, with all due respect, the Young Master actually deserved it."

"Oh, I don't know about that. It's hardly Sensei's fault that Snake Eyes needed more training, or that he brought a wolf in the Pit, or even worse, that he brought a wolf in the Pit _without telling Hawk_."

"You do realize Sensei didn't actually need more training, don't you?" Kamakura asked.

"Sure he did," Jinx intervened, clearly amused. "He needed to get better at not giving Tommy an excuse to worry over nothing."

Kamakura smirked in spite of himself. "A skill WE obviously still need to acquire if we are to avoid worse training measures than this camping trip."

Billy nodded enthusiastically. "Don't want that."

"Speaking of which," Kimi said, looking at each of her little brothers in turn, "do we still have a problem, here?"

The two apprentices avoided her gaze and darted looks at each other, each thinking hard on what they had been talking about. Kamakura was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry I doubted your loyalty," he said. "Not that I think I was wrong to, I had perfectly good reasons to wonder, but…"

Billy waved him off. "But now you don't wonder anymore. Good enough. I'm sorry I called you a suck up… actually, scratch that. I'm sorry I thought you were a suck up, not that I called you one. You're just a freakishly well mannered almost ninja."

Sean rolled his eyes but nodded to acknowledge the apology. "I challenged you earlier to think of any time at all where the masters weren't happy with how I acted."

"I can't," Billy admitted. "What about you? Did they ever do or say anything that made you think they thought I was being rude?"

Kamakura shook his head. "I was trying to think of something, but no. They never did. And I think they would let us know if they did mind either way."

Billy chuckled. "Yeah. They spent the last few weeks telling us off about twenty times a day, it's not like they're too shy to complain about us." He sighed. "Look, I get why you've been walking on eggshells so much, now. I still don't think you need to, but if that's what feels right to you and they don't mind it…" he shrugged. "As long as you don't keep trying to make me do the same."

Kamakura snorted. "I think I've wasted enough time and energy trying to teach you some manners; you're a lost cause. But, Sensei and the Young Master don't seem to mind and I can understand why you think it'd do more harm than good to change your ways in that regard. I think you're completely wrong, mind you, but at least I know why you're being stupid. I'll leave it to our senseis to correct you as they wish, but don't you EVER dare imply again that I'm putting on an act."

"Deal," Billy said. "But just one more thing. Try and keep the tent somewhat tidy, or I'm moving out."

Kamakura crossed his arms. "No you're not, I am. I'm not getting kicked by that metal leg of yours in the middle of the night again when I could just use the masters' tent."

Billy shrugged. "As long as you take all your stuff, fine."

"So then," Kamakura said with a smile, getting up and extending his hand. "Team? We do need to work together if we're going to get back at the masters for pulling this stunt."

"Brothers," Billy corrected, smiling as well as he got up and shook the offered hand.

Jinx beamed at them both, her hands joined under her chin. "Awhhh…" she cooed. "You're cute when you're being good, too!"

* * *

Loud was the first impression Storm Shadow registered as his brains started to work their way out of unconsciousness. There was a loud buzzing hum surrounding him… it was a lot like when his eardrums had been damaged by that fire alarm. He noticed the pain in his ears next. That was just like back then too.

His thoughts slowly focused on his last recollections. They'd been entering Valleytown, and they had both known something was wrong, and then… the noise. He sluggishly put together that the reason his ears were hurting and buzzing like the last time they had been injured was that they had been injured again.

He then noticed he couldn't move, and reached the conclusion that this was almost certainly not a good thing. He opened his eyes, and felt his heart skip a beat.

He was in some kind of reinforced holding room decorated with Cobra flags. His mind automatically recalled in vivid details all the times he'd waken up in custody of Cobra and incapable of moving, and how it always ended with his being turned into their obedient slave again. His heart started hammering.

He forced himself to take a deep breath, knowing panic would not help, and looked around some more, searching for something, anything, that could possibly help.

His eyes fell on the prone form of Snake Eyes and widened as the relative calm he'd just achieved evaporated; he could not hear his brother's pulse.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

If you're curious about the things referenced here…

The conversation where Billy and Tommy basically adopted one another and where Tommy told him he wasn't going to demand Billy disown CC altogether was right at the end of Reunion, although they were both speaking in tongues because they're macho ninja guys who aren't all that comfortable openly talking about touchy-feely stuff.

The fire alarm incident Tommy recalls here happened in one of the early chapters of Arashikage.

Thompson and Hart are OCs of mine, who first appeared in The Greenshirts and the Werewolf. That story is all about the werewolf incident I mentioned earlier in the chapter.

Finally, Kamakura cannot explain Hart's change of attitude towards Storm Shadow, but _I_ intend to in an upcoming one-shot (eventually upcoming, anyway). For now, just know that there is a reason.

Thanks for reading!


	15. Chapter 15: A Good Time to Panic

**Chapter 15: A Good Time to Panic**

Billy and Kamakura gave Jinx identical disgusted looks. She tried to coo again, as much to irritate them as anything else, but she burst out laughing instead. Kamakura groaned and Billy clicked his tongue in irritation.

"I am never feeling any sympathy for you ever again when Sensei treats you like a little kid," Billy said. "Ever."

"It _would_ be nice of you to stop acting like we're cute," Kamakura added with a slight snarl.

"But you are!" Jinx said, still sniggering. "But all right; let's do something productive since you two don't feel like just being adorable."

"As long as you don't try to burp us," Billy said, still giving her the evil eye.

"Not unless you get cranky again," she replied, giving him a few pats on the head despite his attempt to dodge. She then took a step back from the two boys, adopted a deadly serious expression and crossed her arms.

"Although you aren't my students, specifically, I am your senior in the clan," she said in a downright formal tone. "I may not be a master like Tommy and Snake Eyes, but even though I can still learn from them, I'm still a fully qualified kunoichi already. As such, it's my duty to help train students when I can; to share my skills."

Billy and Kamakura bowed when she paused, formally acknowledging her rank and expressing gratitude for whatever help she'd provide. She nodded at the expected response and continued.

"Since we have some time to kill now, I'm going to start teaching you one of my specialties."

"Blind training?" Billy guessed, cutting her a bit short. He didn't bother to fake enthusiasm: he had far more experience than he cared for with substitute teachers instructing him in their specialties. He'd spent a lot more time to date with those, in fact, than with his actual sensei, and the main thing he had learned was that short spurts of specialized training were pretty much useless.

Jinx ignored the obvious reluctance and nodded.

"The fact that I'm tagging along on this trip and that I wasn't told about The Glaive tells me my dear cousin feels I'm not being a good enough big sister," she said with a slight smirk. "I don't want to have to deal with whatever they come up with next anymore than you do." She cleared her throat and became serious again. "Kamakura, I know Snake Eyes hasn't done much blind training with you at all."

"No," the red head confirmed. "This part of my training falls under the Young Master, but I don't actually have a lot of training time with him at all. No fault of his," he added quickly, "it's just that between my training with Sensei and my normal duties, my schedule is very full. Anyway," he continued, getting back on track to answer Jinx's question, "on Sensei's request, the Young Master devotes what little time he spends with me to archery and other long distance weapons."

Billy's eye was wide. "Seriously? You're not learning the Ear that Sees? At all?"

Sean shook his head, frowning in warning at his younger brother to ward off any insults or mockery.

"What about history? Philosophy?" Billy asked, suddenly struck by the implications of what he'd just found out. "Sensei would be teaching you that too, wouldn't he?"

"I do a lot of reading," Sean replied, sounding distinctly annoyed.

"You don't discuss the stuff?"

"Enough, Billy," Jinx cut in. "Let me save us all some time and summarize, all right? Kamakura is currently highly specialized in combat, particularly sword play. In fact," she added in a lower voice, her gaze suddenly pointing downward and her cheeks coloring slightly, "he's good enough with swords to give Tommy a run for his money in a duel. More so than me."

Kamakura flushed a bright red at the admission. Billy clenched his jaw.

"However," Jinx started back at her normal volume, "that's a specialty in the true sense of the word; Sean is nowhere near as strong in anything else. If he were to actually fight with Tommy, or even with me, he would lose as soon as we started using different weapons and tactics. You," she nodded towards Billy, "are more balanced, even if you're a lot less advanced. Right now, you're better at the Ear that Sees and as you were just pointing out, you've had more lessons in history, philosophy and I suspect in meditation as well. Although to be honest, that's more because Tommy likes the sound of his own voice than anything else. It's certainly not going to help you much in a fight."

Billy bit back his reply. He knew Tommy insisted on all that to provide him balance and perspective, but he would have been hard pressed to argue against Jinx's point.

"All that being said," Jinx continued with a new smirk, "I can still kick both your butts, and more importantly, I can help you with blind techniques. Yes, Billy, you too. You don't have Tommy's ears; you can't rely on them as much as he does. So! You need a larger set of techniques."

"What else are we supposed to use when we can't see?" Kamakura asked. "What do _you_ use? You don't have the Young Master's ears either, do you?"

"Nope," Jinx replied. "And yet I'm his equal in the dark."

"The Blind Master WAS extremely good at it," Billy said.

Jinx nodded. "As for what else I use than my ears, honestly!" she said, rolling her eyes at Kamakura. "Take a wild guess. Hint: it's not magic."

"Well," Kamakura stammered, "I'd say your other senses, but that can't be right. Your nose can't tell you much, your tongue even less, and it's a bit late to be useful when you feel a hit."

Jinx raised an eyebrow at him. "It can be right, and it is," she said. "I can locate opponents and allies by smell, and I can detect their movements by feeling the air currents they create in addition to hearing them. I can't usually make out an enemy's pulse, but I can still hear most people breathing and moving. All this combines to give me a good picture of where they are and what they are doing because I've practiced enough that it's become second nature. You could say I've developed an instinct."

"What about objects?" Kamakura asked.

"They smell," Billy answered for her. "Trees have sap, walls have paint or plaster if they're new and all kinds of other stuff if they're not."

"The air currents around large objects help too," Jinx added. "Think of a strong wind being blocked by a large tree… the same effect happens on a smaller scale with any breeze. You can also sometimes feel static electricity around some obstacles. And if they're moving, you can feel the movement whether you can hear it or not. By contrast, Tommy pretty much uses only his ears as soon as there is anything at all to be heard. I swear I keep expecting him to talk towards walls to find them with the echo."

"That'd be a great excuse to start talking to walls," Billy remarked.

Kamakura flinched and Jinx snorted at him. "You're allowed to make a bit of fun of your sensei's quirks too, Sean. It's not disrespectful to acknowledge that they are human beings."

Kamakura flushed. "So, how are you going to teach us?" he asked.

Jinx snickered at the sudden change of subject but took out a couple of long scarves from one of her pockets.

"It is very difficult to develop your other senses when your main one is not blocked," she said. "Even I still need to train with one of these on a regular basis to keep improving."

"So… this is all only useful when you're blind?" Kamakura asked.

Jinx raised an eyebrow. "It wouldn't be a very good use of your training time to teach you those techniques if they were only ever useful when you're in complete darkness without night vision goggles, now would it?"

Kamakura scratched his head and looked down, obviously uncomfortable. "I'm not saying that."

"The keener your other senses are, the more useful they'll be to you even when you can see perfectly well. You don't suddenly go deaf each time you open your eyes, do you? It's the same thing. Obviously, those techniques are more critical when you are in fact blinded, but they will improve your perception of your surroundings even when you're not. How much they help you, in any case, depends entirely on how well you train yourself to use them."

Kamakura's eyebrows raised a bit. "Is it because of his memory that the Young Master doesn't need to do any blindfolded training, like you do? I know he does do it sometimes, but it's only ever when he's teaching or err… demonstrating. But wait, he still can't improve without training…" he trailed off, frowning thoughtfully as he tried to figure it all out.

"It has nothing to do with his memory," Jinx replied, handing out the scarves to the two boys. "It's just that he usually relies more on his ears than his eyes, so he also uses earplugs when he wants to train his nose and his sense of touch. He doesn't do it very often."

Billy adjusted his blindfold. "And you don't want to be around when he does."

Jinx snickered. "No kidding; he HATES training with earplugs. All right, boys; defensive poses. We're going to start with basics. Face me at all times."

She started moving around them in random directions, at first making a point to walk noisily and gradually becoming quieter. Billy did better at following her movements, as expected, but Kamakura did quite well for a beginner.

* * *

Storm Shadow stared fixedly at his fellow prisoner, straining his ears to hear a sign of life, refusing to face the idea that his plan to get the apprentices to get along had killed his brother and simultaneously telling himself that what appeared to be a dead Snake Eyes could actually be anyone else in disguise, or even a dummy.

His eyes widened when he noticed his cell companion's chest rising and falling. This evidence that whoever was next to him was alive even though he could not hear them finished waking up his brains and he rolled his eyes at himself, cursing under his breath; he couldn't hear the person being held here with him because he could hardly hear anything period. He couldn't even hear his OWN heart, at the moment.

Which left the problem of figuring out who the man dressed as Snake Eyes actually was. He decided to try a bait.

"Sword Brother?" he called out.

Snake Eyes woke up with a start when he heard the voice and immediately tried to jump up. He struggled against his restraints for a minute before turning to whoever it was that had called him in an imitation of Tommy's voice. His eyes widened; that was definitely Storm Shadow next to him. The mute ninja automatically tried to sign a question, but his hands were so well bound that he couldn't move them enough to sign.

"To answer your question, I was trying to confirm it was you," Tommy said, frowning. "I knew you'd assume I was an impostor if I called you that instead of just 'brother', and you clearly did."

Snake Eyes tried to tilt his head, but it was completely immobilized. He clicked his tongue in irritation.

"I couldn't tell it was you because I can't hear you," Tommy explained anyway, sounding angrier with each word. "I can't hear ANYTHING!" he added, his tone rising to a yell. "My own voice sounds like it's behind ten feet of solid concrete! And it's not like someone else couldn't wear that rubber mask of yours!"

With that off his chest, his anger subsided again, only to leave way to his earlier panic. "We need to get out of here," he said in one breath, talking very fast.

Snake Eyes could hear the panic in his brother's voice and clicked his tongue, trying to get Storm Shadow's attention to snap him out of it.

Tommy either didn't hear him or just ignored him, and kept on talking, already in a frenzy. "This is just like before; this is what it was like. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything, and they can't have you too! And…"

Storm Shadow snapped his mouth shut. He'd been just about to mention, out loud, the apprentices and Jinx. He couldn't do that; there was a chance Cobra didn't know they were near, he couldn't betray them. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths, as much to stop himself from talking as to calm himself down.

He saw the door to their holding room open then, and all thoughts of remaining calm left him as Mindbender stepped through the doorway.

Snake Eyes took a sharp intake of breath, suddenly feeling like panicking was a perfectly reasonable response after all. He briefly wondered why Tommy wasn't screaming his head off at the mad scientist, but got his answer when he looked at his brother: Storm Shadow was perfectly still and had seemingly stopped breathing. Much as he'd desperately tried to do several times when about to be brainwashed again, Tommy was initiating the trance of the Sleeping Phoenix with the intention of overdoing it and thus killing himself rather than allowing himself to fall under Cobra's control again.

Mindbender was thankfully no keener on Storm Shadow dying on him than Snake Eyes was. "Stop that," he said loudly. "I have no interest whatsoever in brainwashing you again and even if I did, I don't have the brainwave scanner here."

He got through; Storm Shadow opened his eyes back up, scowling at the doctor. A short laugh sounded from behind Mindbender, startling both ninja and eliciting a string of curses from Storm Shadow, mostly in Japanese and some of which Snake Eyes had actually never heard before.

Firefly, who had obviously been hiding just out of view, leaned on the doorframe, chuckling while he waited out Storm Shadow's invectives. Next to him, Mindbender was looking bored.

Tommy eventually got tired of yelling at both of them and of the muffled sound of his own voice, and switched to snarling at the two men. Snake Eyes was scowling at both, every muscle on his body tense, every inch of him promising death to their captors.

"Awh," Firefly said in a whisper Snake Eyes could barely make out, "what is it, Young Master? Are you not enjoying my hospitality? And you, Snake Eyes? You look so tense, is something the matter? I do want to be a good host… just say the word if you need something, I'll be glad to oblige."

Storm Shadow narrowed his eyes at him; he hadn't heard a word of that and he could guess Firefly knew it. "Release us, Firefly," he growled, "before we have to cut our way out right through you."

"Not before I get what I want," Mindbender said, loudly enough for the temporarily hard of hearing ninja to understand him. He took out a syringe and approached Storm Shadow. "And I don't even want much; just a little bit of blood… surely not enough to frighten a big bad ninja?" He chuckled.

Storm Shadow snarled at him. "What could you possibly want with my blood?" he asked.

"Hanzo Hattori's genes," Mindbender replied. "Your ancestor is part of a recipe I'm putting together to create the perfect Emperor for Cobra and the world."

Snake Eyes blinked. Cobra had had some pretty insane schemes over the years, but unless he was mistaken, Mindbender was talking about creating a mixed clone of past historical figures, which would definitely rank way above anything else in a list of all time craziest ideas.

Storm Shadow was not amused. Perhaps his time in Cobra had thought him to believe there was no limit to what those lunatics could dream up, or perhaps it was just that the threat to the sanctity of his family's blood was too serious regardless of how ridiculous the concept was, but much to Snake Eyes' surprise, his brother looked deadly serious, and extremely pissed off.

"You are NOT seriously thinking of using MY blood to make yourself some kind of Cobra serving Frankeinstein monster," he growled. He did not make it sound in the least like a question.

"Not serving;" Mindbender corrected, "leading. The Commander is no longer suited to the task and if we're going to replace him, why settle for imperfection again? My creation will be a magnificent leader, an unstoppable conqueror! The perfect Emperor!"

He smiled wistfully at the thought and poked the syringe in the bend of Storm Shadow's elbow a few times, ignoring the ninja's screamed protests and threats as well as his fruitless attempts to trash around in bounds that allowed no movement. He eventually found a vein and drew his sample.

"If you have what you need," Firefly said from the doorway, this time in a clear voice, "I suggest you leave. I've made a deal to deliver these two to the Commander. I haven't told him about your presence here, or what you've been up to, but I suppose his new ninjas might."

Mindbender's eyebrows shot up and he almost dropped his blood sample. "Are… are you mad?" he cried out. "You can't do that! Not right now!"

Firefly cocked his head and chuckled. "He'll be here in two days," he said. "Two whole days for you to go back to wherever your hiding place is. Generous, wouldn't you say?"

Mindbender was still breathing a bit fast. "No," he said. "I need to test my extraction technique first, and to try and incorporate the result into my mix. I can't leave right away."

"You should hurry then," Firefly said with a shrug. He turned around and left, leaving Mindbender alone with the ninjas.

"It's not the Commander you should worry about," Storm Shadow said with a smirk. "It won't take us nearly two days to free ourselves."

Mindbender rolled his eyes at him. "We'll see, won't we?" he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do and far less time than I'd like to do it in."

He walked out with a flourish, closing and locking the door behind him.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Just to be clear, this story, like my others, is mostly based on the comics and not the old cartoon. I always felt the ability to fight blind was part of Jinx' character, however, and it made sense to me considering she studied under the Blind Master and the Arashikage seems to favour sensory techniques anyway, between the Ear that Sees, the Chameleon's Mantle that can fool it, the Blind Swordsman, and who knows what else. So, even though Sunbow's Jinx is the one who most famously exhibits this ability, I always assumed it for my own 'version'. Not doing so would have felt the same as deciding Shipwreck doesn't have Polly, it just wouldn't feel right.

That being said, as she explained to Kamakura, being able to see does NOT suddenly render her helpless like it did in said cartoon. Beyond the fact it's a stupid tacked-on weakness to assign a character, it seems to me that a good ninja clan would have long since burned the eyeballs of a kunoichi who could not function without a blindfold… for her own good, of course. You wouldn't want the girl to lose her blindfold somehow in the middle of a fight and get herself killed because of it, now would you?

Thanks for reading!


	16. Chapter 16: The Second Trial

**Chapter 16: The Second Trial**

Jinx woke the two boys the following morning at dawn, and the three set out. As instructed by the clues they had found and unscrambled the previous day, they followed the river downhill, looking for their clan's symbol high and low, left and right, and shining their flashlights in every hole they found in the trees and in any other shadowy spot, just in case.

They had been walking at a snail's pace, carefully inspecting their surroundings for nearly an hour when Kamakura let out a sigh.

Billy rolled his eye at him. "Oh, suck it up," he scolded. "We're ALL tired of looking."

"You just complained in more words, and louder, than I did," Kamakura snapped back. "One short sigh against…", he counted on his fingers, "five words spoken out loud. So YOU suck it up."

Jinx turned around and levelled a glare on both of them. "Temper, boys," she said. "I know you're bored and that it's making you cranky, but play nice or you get a time out."

"I think Sean needs his plushie," Billy said.

Kamakura's fists clenched. "Billy needs a pacifier," he countered. "And just think, it'd keep him quiet."

"Can you dip it in syrup?" Billy asked, treating Jinx to his best begging face. "Pretty please?"

Kamakura blinked, then smirked. "If there's syrup, I want some too!" he declared, crossing his arms.

Kimi crossed her arms too, with a stern expression on her face that threatened to dissolve into laughter any second. "I said be good. That means no whining or begging, young men. You can have a snack when we finish the trial."

Billy took on a chastised expression and Kamakura nodded with a pout. Jinx ceremoniously rolled her eyes at them both and started the slow walk along the river again.

The apprentices exchanged a glance and a smirk that cemented an unspoken agreement to act like babies each time Jinx treated them as such and followed.

They found the symbol easily about half an hour later; it was painted nice and big on a wide wooden pole planted in the middle of a small clearing.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Kamakura exclaimed. "We didn't have to look everywhere carefully at all! We could have run from the camp to here and still found this!"

Jinx ignored him and walked to the pole. Closer inspection revealed it was actually two halves of one pole, glued back together. There was a red line painted around it on a slant compared to the ground, starting just a bit below where the two halves were glued together. She spotted a note nailed to the top half and carefully ripped it away so as not to tear it apart.

"Your second trial will test your precision with a blade," she read. "The password is inside this wooden pole, along with explosives. The only way to recover the password without setting off these explosives is to cut with one strike precisely along the red line. If you succeed, your blade will safely miss all the explosives and you will be able to recover the password. If you miss, the heat resulting from the friction of your blade will be enough to set off the explosives and you will have failed the trial and forfeited all your lives and those of your masters."

Billy snorted. "It's kind of tempting to miss, isn't it? Just to see what the masters would do?"

Jinx shrugged. "The Glaive would either generously give us another chance after all, or they'd escape and give us hell. Pretty sure we would not benefit from it. Especially if we do it on purpose."

"I think you're right on that," Kamakura said. "So… will you cut it?"

Jinx shook her head and stepped away from the pole. "This one is yours," she said, looking straight at Sean.

The red head's eyes widened. "But…"

Billy tutted at him. "She told you yesterday that you were even better with a sword than she was," he reminded his sword brother. "What is it, you wanted to hear it again?"

"No!" Kamakura stammered. "It's just…"

"This test was obviously meant to make us assign you to the task, Sean," Jinx said with a sigh. "You're the best swordsman here. Even though I can still beat you black and blue if I want to," she added with a frown.

"No kidding," Kamakura grumbled. Jinx did just that, or close enough, every single time they sparred.

She looked like she wasn't going to budge on making him take the test, however, so he unsheathed his sword and positioned himself in front of the pole.

He was nervous and felt ridiculous for it. No lives were at stake, nobody would even get injured. The masters might be disappointed, but as long as he didn't do it on purpose, really, all that would happen would be more sword drills for him. On the other hand, he'd been enjoying the idea of being better than Jinx with swords and really didn't want to go and demonstrate she'd overestimated him. Also, chances were that Billy would never let him live it down if he messed this up.

Considering the life he lived, those were pathetic reasons to be nervous. He took a deep breath and concentrated on his target, forgetting everything else and thinking only of the strike, just as he'd been taught. His eyes narrowed and he pushed all concerns away from his mind, focusing his every thought, his entire being, on a visualization of his sword cutting through the red line and of the upper part of the pole sliding off the lower part and falling to the ground.

He inhaled deeply again, extended his sword arm, and swung at the pole. Just as in his vision, the sword neatly sliced the pole exactly along the painted line. The upper part even started sliding off, but it toppled before falling off and fell apart in mid-air, separating along the line where the two halves had been glued together.

He jumped back next to where the other two were standing, worried the explosives may go off, but nothing happened.

"Shoddy construction," Jinx said with a slight huff after a couple of seconds. "At least it didn't go and blow up. That would have been really unfair; your strike was perfect."

Kamakura swallowed and nodded. "Thank you," he said.

"Yeah," Billy said, looking intently at the bits of pole and not at him. "That was good."

Sean smirked. "Thanks."

"Don't get a big head," the brunette said. "Let's just get the password, okay?"

He didn't wait for an answer and stepped up to the remains of the pole, imitated by Jinx and Kamakura. He frowned as he looked down the section of the pole that was still standing; it looked completely empty.

"This one's empty," Sean announced, holding the smallest piece up towards the sky. "I didn't have to be very precise after all, I could have cut a bit above the line and it wouldn't have made any difference."

"You could have cut anywhere," Jinx said, holding her own piece up in a way that allowed her to see day light through the hollow middle. "This one is empty too. Billy?"

"Looks empty," he said. He shone his flashlight down the hollow pole slowly, looking for a black piece of paper stuck along the side or something similarly hard to see, but there was nothing to find at all. "Yep," he confirmed, "it's empty."

Jinx frowned. "You know, if I was setting this up for someone, I'd wait until the last minute to stick the stuff in there, and I wouldn't stick the two halves together solidly, either. There are other hikers around, you wouldn't want one to find this and start playing with it and setting it off."

"So you're saying they just never finished setting it up?" Kamakura asked.

Jinx nodded. "I wonder why, though?"

Billy chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "You don't think… they want to make it look like they couldn't?"

Jinx and Kamakura's eyes widened. Jinx let out an exasperated groan. "That would explain it," she said.

Billy sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I think we're supposed to think something happened to them before they could finish setting this up. And it just conveniently happens that it was set up just enough for us to still do the task."

Sean let out a long suffering sigh. "So, they know we figured out that they didn't really get kidnapped? And they're trying to make us think they got in trouble for real while pretending they had been captured by The Glaive? And we're supposed to fall for it?"

"No," Jinx said thoughtfully. "I think this shows they were listening in yesterday. And if they were, they know you two made a lot of progress, so they're speeding up the game."

"That would make sense," Billy said thoughtfully. "If we have to 'rescue' them right away, we don't have time to plan a way to get back to them for this whole thing. And as long as we know it's a game, they don't have to leave detailed instructions; our figuring out what our next step needs to be is part of our new objectives."

"Well, since we don't know that their 'real' captors will keep them alive, we obviously need to find them as quickly as we can," Sean said. "Let's look for tracks."

The other two agreed, but it didn't take long to find that the only set of tracks led to the river; the masters had used the oldest trick in the book to make following their tracks impossible.

"We could follow the river all day before we found where they came out," Jinx sighed. "This can't be the intent."

"Which leaves getting information from people," Sean mused. "I think that's it… we need to go to the village and find clues there. They probably got a few villagers in on the game or something… or they fooled them like they did that other place about The Glaive."

"They probably fooled these guys about the Glaive too, actually," Billy said. "Since we were bound to go there eventually whether we figured out the prank or not."

Kamakura shot him an annoyed look. "You just love to find something wrong in anything I say, don't you?"

Billy rolled his eye at him. "What am I supposed to do, let you stay wrong? And I was about to say that you were right about needing to go to the village!"

"Boys," Jinx said. "Focus. Don't make me force you to talk about your feelings again."

The threat worked; both boys stopped talking immediately and turned to her.

"We're going back to camp first," she said. "If we're going to be looking for information in the village, we'll do it like proper ninjas, and the first step for that is to make sure we don't look a thing like ninjas."

* * *

Breaker was completely absorbed in his regular monitoring when the alert beeped and a window popped up, startling him and causing him to pop the balloon he had going. He irritably started picking the gum from his face while reading the notification, but stopped, utterly distracted by what he was being notified about. To think he'd almost not bothered to set up that particular reminder…

He dialled Flint's extension, staring at the screen as if it'd give him more information than he had now. This wasn't like Snake Eyes at all. Or actually, it was, but each time it happened, something bad was on the go.

Flint picked up on the second ring. "Flint here."

"Breaker. Flint, the ninjas missed their check-in. They should have called ten minutes ago."

There was a short pause. "I'll be right there, we'll call them."

"Got…" Breaker didn't bother finishing; the warrant officer had already hung up. While waiting for Flint, he resumed his normal watch, absently cleaning the temporarily forgotten gum out of his face at the same time.

Flint came marching through the door a very short while later and immediately seized the outside phone. "What number?" he asked. "I swear if they just forgot…"

Breaker gave him the number and Flint dialled, angrily punching the buttons, obviously all set to give the erring ninjas hell.

* * *

Jim Winslow was rather enjoying his morning. The two ninjas were very frustrated, having predictably spent the night trying to free themselves. The boss had confirmed they'd made no headway at all after one of his guys had carefully tested all the holds and restraints keeping the Joes immobile. Of course, he'd announced that right here, in front of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, just to irritate them a bit more.

It had worked, making it incredibly easy for Winslow to goad them and get a fun reaction. He'd had a fun hour already and had another one to go before he was relieved. He cast his mind around looking for another way to annoy Storm Shadow, because between the mask and the muteness, Snake Eyes was no fun. He quickly stumbled on something he hadn't touched yet.

"I should thank you," he said, addressing the Asian man, "you got me a nice bonus. And it's not like it was that hard to recognize you when you came here alone, even with all the bruises and stuff. I mean, we all kind of fantasize about seeing you like that anyway. Wait a minute," he added, suddenly frowning in puzzlement. "How come you're fine already?"

"It was makeup," the ninja answered, knowing that Firefly at the very least would have figured out that much by now anyway and preferring not to give any indication he'd want to hide what he was really doing when he'd been faking injuries. "The Glaive doesn't exist, I was trying to win a bet. And I did," he added smugly, looking at Snake Eyes.

Snake Eyes played along by closing his fist at him as well as he could – which wasn't much, he basically just managed to bend his fingers a little bit. He clicked his tongue in irritation and turned his head away from Tommy as much as he could.

"So you fooled the idiots in town," Winslow said. "Big deal. I recognized you, and I recorded you, and you never noticed. Some ninja! And look at you now…" he barked a laugh.

Storm Shadow rolled his eyes at him and ignored any further attempt at conversation. He was due to check in with the Pit in a few minutes, which meant the cell phone Firefly had confiscated would ring in a very short while as someone from GI Joe called to check on them and tell them off for missing their check-in. The phone was sitting on a table, right next to their guard, and it was easy to guess the reason why: Firefly would want to avoid the Joes worrying about them, so even if he didn't know whether they were even supposed to check in, he'd make sure the phone was answered if it did ring, and with reassurances for whoever was calling.

Which meant Tommy needed to think of how he'd make sure whoever called did not give away that the apprentices and Jinx were around too, while also letting them know the three were on their own and why. All that while not being able to hear the person on the other end clearly.

Winslow startled when the phone rang but quickly recovered and picked it up without opening the line, while pointing his gun at Snake Eyes with his other hand.

"You're going to tell them everything's fine, or your brother Snake Eyes dies," he said, reciting the line he'd been told to use. "No funny business, and you better be convincing. Got it?"

Storm Shadow nodded and Winslow opened the line while holding the phone next to the ninja's ear.

"Worried for us?" Tommy said cheerfully in the phone.

Back at the Pit, Flint glared at the phone; Storm Shadow sounded like he couldn't care less that he was late checking in.

"Why did you not check in?" he asked darkly, resisting the urge to raise his voice right away. There'd always be time to scream at the ninja later.

Storm Shadow clenched his teeth – he couldn't quite recognize the voice, it was too low and Firefly's stupid goon was not holding the phone quite to his ear. This made talking naturally a bit more difficult since he couldn't address the person by name or rank. He needed to find out who he was talking to for another reason as well; he'd have to take more chances in what he said if he was talking to someone less likely to catch on.

He chuckled. "Relax, mom. We just lost track of time."

Flint's hand clenched around the phone and he felt a vein starting to throb in his forehead. "You will start getting serious NOW, Storm Shadow," he yelled. He knew the sudden increase in volume would hurt the ninja's overly sensitive ears, but at the moment, that seemed more like an added incentive to scream than anything else.

Tommy faked an audible wince and held back a smile; he recognized the voice now.

"All right, all right!" he said, careful not to talk unnaturally fast but not pausing, either. "No need to yell. Sorry we worried you, we're both fine. Like I said, we just lost track of time."

Flint's eyes widened. Breaker, who could hear the call through his headphones, blinked and cocked his head.

"You're not fine when you get here," the warrant officer grumbled. "You're both on KP duty for this, and I swear if you miss another check in, I'm letting Beach Head decide on your punishment."

He hung up and turned to face Breaker. "Call Beach Head, tell him to meet me in Hawk's office right now. Then call Hawk and tell him the ninjas got separated and at least two of them are in trouble. How many phones did they take?"

"Just the one," Breaker said. "Standard for a small group on leave in safe territory."

Flint cursed and left, walking quickly to get to Hawk's office.


	17. Chapter 17: Valleytown Meeting

**Chapter 17: Valleytown Meeting**

"So," Flint said after the playback of his conversation with Storm Shadow was finished, "Tommy confidently and happily reported on only two people instead of five, phrased it so it was obvious he was only reporting on two people – he could have just said 'we're fine' instead of 'we're BOTH fine' - and he didn't try to give any kind of explanation on the other three. He was putting on a show, I'm sure of it. He's in trouble, with just one of the other four, and he's assuming whoever's got him doesn't know the other three are nearby."

Hawk nodded in approval.

"So I have to go save some ninja butts," Beach Head said. "Any clue who's with Storm?"

"No idea," Flint said. "Whoever it was didn't say anything, but that doesn't mean it's definitely Snake Eyes. Either way, you need to locate the other three as well. I'm pretty sure Storm would not have been able to sound that cool if any of them were dead, but well… ninjas are actors and he was obviously being forced to act as though all was well."

"We could get Psyche Out's opinion," Hawk said, "or call Stalker back from leave and get his, but they would also just be guessing. There's no benefit in your waiting, Beach Head."

"Yes sir. I want to take twenty men with me. That'll be enough for most situations, and if not, there's no telling who and what I'll need before I see what's going on."

Hawk nodded. "Who do you have in mind?"

"I figure I'll never hear the end of it if I don't bring Scarlett," Beach Head said with a scowl. "Other than that, balanced group; mostly greenshirts and a couple of Joes. It'll only take me a few minutes to pick 'em once I get a list of who's available right here right now."

The list was requested by Hawk from his secretary, brought in and discussed. True to Beach Head's prediction, his team was decided in just a few minutes.

They were on their way to the ninjas' last known location less than an hour later; annoyingly bickering kids or not, ex murdering Cobra spook or not, Joes did not leave Joes behind.

* * *

"Maybe we should call the Pit," Kamakura suddenly suggested. "It'd make sense if we thought the masters had been captured, wouldn't it?"

The trio was on their way back to camp, altogether in a fairly good mood over the tedious trials having been replaced by what promised to be a much more interesting game.

"Well, yeah," Jinx said, "but we don't and Tommy and Snakes probably realize it. And what if someone at the Pit goes and thinks this is real? We'd have to explain everything so they don't send a rescue party."

"Who's going to think Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow somehow managed to get captured by who knows who in the middle of nowhere?" Billy asked. "And right while they were pretending to have been captured by a fight club? And just in time not to finish setting up a challenge for us?"

"Your potential future brother would probably believe it," Jinx replied with a smirk. "Seriously though, I just don't see the point of calling. Even if the rest of the team realizes this is just the masters fooling around, we'd just be wasting their time and ours with a useless call."

"We're expected to check in, though, aren't we?" Kamakura asked.

Jinx nodded and checked her watch. "We should have checked in almost half an hour ago," she said. "But since we haven't been able to find the phone, I'm assuming Tommy took it and is checking in for all of us still. And we can't very well borrow a phone in the village if we're supposed to view it as possible enemy territory. So, since we don't have a good reason to call the Pit, we won't."

The conversation veered on how to proceed in the village. By the time they reached camp, they had decided on what weapons to bring – decision based mostly on covering as many potential fighting needs as possible while appearing to be completely unarmed – and on what their cover and strategy would be. They got ready quickly, had a snack for extra energy and were on their way.

* * *

Billy's plastered on smile instantly became genuine when the trio left the shadows of the woods and found themselves at the edge of Valleytown. The thick, black sunglasses he was wearing to disguise his missing eye were almost as good as a blindfold in the shadowy forest and it was a delight to be able to see again.

They dark glasses were, however, a necessary evil; if the masters had been captured, the odds would have been that their captors were associated with Cobra. Which meant that in order not to give themselves away, Jinx and the apprentices would have had to make themselves hard to recognize. So, part of playing along was to do just that.

Billy was therefore wearing full length pants along with the dark sunglasses and he did not have his usual eye patch. Kamakura was wearing a low hat that completely hid his red hair, and had large aviator sunglasses that did a good job of partly masking his features. Jinx, for her part, had shown off a definite talent in the art of illusions and disguise: high platform boots designed to look much lower than they were gave her a good three inches, and she'd selected clothes that did double duty in visually elongating her while making her look like a teenager. She had gathered her hair into a hurried fountain ponytail to complete the illusion and to most people they'd run into, she'd look like a girl of about average height and around the same age as Billy and Kamakura.

Now that they were here in the village, the game was fully on and they immediately slipped completely into characters; it was show time.

Jinx looked around a second and pointed at a random building, grinning.

"There!" she said happily. "Exactly like they described! That's the town."

Kamakura nodded, smiling widely as well. "Finally!" he said. He looked around and gradually let his smile slip. "So where are they?"

Jinx lost her smile as well, imitated by Billy. All three stood in place, looking around and taking on irritated airs.

"They're late, or they found a bar," Billy said in a grumpy voice.

"They should have been here since last night," Jinx said, looking at her watch.

"Then they're drunk," Kamakura said with a sigh, carefully faking exasperation and hiding the urge to chuckle at the idea.

Jinx groaned. "Let's look for them," she said. "They may be hungover, too, so they're not even necessarily in a bar."

The performance seemed to be in vain; nobody was looking in their direction or paying the slightest attention to them. Just the same, all three knew they needed to keep at it, just in case some people were watching and listening more than they appeared to be.

They headed for the closest public gathering place they saw: a little bar with dark curtains obscuring every window and a sign identifying it as 'Valleytown's Tavern'. They went in and looked around before displaying slightly disappointed expressions. Some people glanced at the three intruders and Billy smiled vaguely at one of them before taking a couple of steps towards his table.

"You didn't happen to see two tourists come here last night, did you?" he asked.

The man's eyes widened briefly and he shook his head firmly. "I haven't seen anybody new for weeks!" he said forcefully.

The rest of the patrons and staff ignored them completely but a tense shoulder here, a hint of nervousness in the voice of a waitress there, and various other subtle signs, were more than enough to betray to the three visitors that something was seriously wrong.

"Doesn't look like they were here," Jinx said brightly. "Come on guys, let's keep looking."

The two boys took her cue and left the bar. Billy took a good look around while they walked, uneasy. Jinx did the same, as well as Kamakura, and the three soon stepped closer to each other.

"There's an awful lot of people around," Kamakura remarked in a low whisper. "And that guy looked terrified."

"He's not the only one," Billy said in a voice barely above a breath. "A lot of these people look nervous."

"And the rest look like they own the place," Jinx finished, whispering as well. "I don't like this. Come on, we need to get out of here and rethink this."

Billy's jaw clenched. "How much thinking do you need?" he whispered harshly. "They panicked the second we mentioned two men!"

Kamakura frowned at his younger brother; Billy was acting like he knew better than everyone else again… except he didn't sound or look superior; far from it; he looked scared. Sean's eyes widened and his premature irritation vanished.

"You think the masters actually are in trouble?" he asked, still whispering as well. "Along with the rest of the town? But we agreed that they were faking again; that they had to be. It'd be WAY…"

He stopped when Jinx suddenly squeezed his arm. She did the same to Billy and once she was sure she had their attention, she quickened her pace without another word.

Kamakura focused on his peripheral vision without moving his head or even his eyes; Billy, safe behind his extremely dark glasses, scanned as well as he could with his left eye, keeping his head straight as well. He didn't see anything in particular, but Kamakura's breath suddenly caught.

"So," Sean said in a would be casual voice. "Where do you want to look next?"

"We shouldn't have to look at all!" Jinx said, sounding exasperated. "I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off on an empty stomach. I say we grab something to eat, have a nice quiet little picnic and THEN look for them."

"Sounds good to me," Billy said out loud, playing along. Then, in a barely audible whisper, "What did you see?"

Jinx bit her lips. She wasn't confident Billy would stay calm enough to preserve their cover if she told him she'd seen Mindbender; Tommy's apprentice had had a taste of the brainwave scanner himself and had been a close witness to its effect on his sensei.

Kamakura did not think of any of that and answered on a reflex. "Mindbender, in civvies. He was coming out of a pharmacy. Definitely him."

Jinx clenched her teeth, but the youngest of their group did a better job than she had expected keeping outwardly cool; his pulse accelerated, but neither his face nor his walk revealed anything.

"Let's get something quick," he said. "Sandwiches or something. I'm starving."

"Whatever," Jinx said with a shrug. "Let's try this way." She pointed down a street that looked like a commercial district.

The three turned into the street and walked down at a leisurely pace for about ten steps before Billy shot the other two a dirty look.

"You can survive another five minutes without food," Jinx protested right away. "And if you can't, just go on ahead. I'm not running."

"Fine," Billy said out loud for the benefit of any potential onlooker. "Jinx, we already wasted tons of time," he continued in an urgent whisper. "We need to hurry! We can't just…"

"I know," she interrupted in a soft but quick voice. "But we can't get ourselves captured too and if you don't calm down, we WILL. So chill. And Sean? Next time, shut up."

* * *

Scarlett drummed her fingers on her thigh impatiently. The chopper was carrying them at a good clip, but still, waiting was waiting and Scarlett didn't like doing that on a good day.

"What's our ETA, Beach Head?" she asked out loud.

The Sergeant Major checked his watch. "About thirty more minutes. It's a good thing we got coordinates, they went and picked a mountain with trees all over it in a spot that's got nothing but mountains and trees. Now simmer down, will you? They can handle themselves for another half hour."

Scarlett narrowed her eyes at him. "We don't know that. We don't know what they're up against."

"Actually, seeing where it is and who we're talking about, it's safe to say they've been captured by that migrated Wendigo."

Scarlett's eyebrows shot up and she turned towards the speaker. Most of the other people in the chopper stiffened laughs, their survival instincts warning against laughing out loud just now, with Scarlett looking more murderous than any Wendigo ever could.

Beach Head rolled his eyes and slapped his hand to his forehead before dragging it slowly down his face.

"FIRST and LAST warning, Thompson," he growled. "I don't want to hear no more crazy shit coming out of you, or I swear I'm kicking you off the chopper."

The conspiracy theorist opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. "Yes, Sergeant Major," he said.

"To be fair," another greenshirt commented, "if anyone ever managed to get captured by some mythical monster that was smart enough to force them to answer the phone and pretend everything's fine, it'd be Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow."

"Yep," someone else answered. "For one thing, it just takes something pretty special to actually cause them a problem."

"And they always find a way to find that something special at the worst possible times. Remember when Snake Eyes was attacked by some kind of enemy ninja in the middle of that parade we were in to show off our new tank?" someone else joined in.

"I know, right? And Storm Shadow's no better. Who the hell else would go and get framed for the murder of their ninja master uncle?"

"It's like finding trouble big enough to be a problem for you is a secret ninja skill or something."

"Yeah! They teach it, sure! Kids got roped into this trip, didn't they?"

"Hey, Thompson, didn't you say Billy got confused for a mobster's kid once? And drugged or something?"

Thompson snorted. "Some rival gang thought he was Tony Vizzori Junior," he confirmed. "They were trying to find out where the money was stashed."

"Money?" someone asked. "Oh wait, I heard about that… he's supposed to have a buried treasure or something, right? Didn't that turn out to be a hoax?"

The conspiracy theorist's eyes narrowed, but Beach Head, who had been talking to the other Joes, cast a warning glance his way.

"Those guys thought it was real," Thompson grumbled, resisting the temptation to explain that Vizzori himself had obviously arranged for people to stop believing in his stash so that they would stop looking for it.

"The point is," another greenshirt piped in pompously, "this incident, which we shall refer to as the 'mobster son incident', proves conclusively that the ninjas' talent for attracting trouble is in fact akin to a contagious disease. Which means, my dear Thompson, that you would do well to continue refusing offers of training."

If they were amused, the other greenshirts hid it; the group had just noticed that Beach Head, Scarlett and even the so far quiet Recondo were scowling at them.

"Funny stuff to have Joes in trouble, is it?" Beach Head growled. "Oh, you're going to find the extra PT you'll all be doing HILARIOUS."

The greenshirts wisely fell silent. When conversation resumed, it was on the much more neutral subject of the latest episode of a popular tv show.

* * *

Rose Miller was not one for excitement and adventure. She had led a very normal and predictable life, and was quite happy with that. When her parents had retired and left her in charge of the restaurant, nearly twenty years ago, she'd set to running it the exact same way they always had, the way they had taught her, and she hadn't changed a thing since. Prices increased every year by just enough to cover the increase in her costs, and the menu was nice and stable. She hadn't suddenly started having balsamic in everything when the Food Network had started using the stuff more than water, and to this day, she had never, ever put Chipotle anything on the menu. Tabasco was good enough thirty years earlier, it was good enough now.

She liked continuity, she loved security and she thrived in stability. The current situation, with Winslow and his friends having taken over the town, killed the sheriff and his wife and captured what they said were actual ninjas like in the movies, had her in a perpetual state of panic. She knew she was constantly shaking and stuttering around Winslow's crew, and she figured the only reason she wasn't dead yet was because they were getting a kick out of her.

She was constantly wondering when they'd get tired of the show and make an example out of her. A thought which of course never failed to terrify her even more.

She braced herself when three new faces came into the door; they looked like hikers, which meant she had to be extra careful because strangers like that were the real intended audience for the show the town was forced to put on. She turned her back to them and concentrated fully on the beers she had been pouring for the corner table. Through sheer strength of will, she managed to limit her shaking to a slight tremor that was nowhere near severe enough to cause the drinks to spill when she picked up the tray. She walked over to the table and conscious of her role, smiled broadly at the murdering scum sitting there.

"There you g…go, gents!" she said brightly as she set down the beers. "Can I bring you anything else?"

They dismissed her with a wave, their attention focused on the newcomers.

"All right-y! Just shout if you ch…change your mind!"

She walked quickly to the three strangers, a smile on her face and her notepad and pen in hand. "H..hey there, strangers. What can I get you?"

One of the two young men, who had for some reason kept on his dark sunglasses, smiled broadly at her. "You got anything that'd work well for a picnic?"

"S…sure thing," she said through her forced smile. "I got some meatloaf ready, that makes really nice warm s…sandwiches, or I have some egg salad, and I can get some p…pie for dessert…"

"I'm pretty sure he's not allowed such unhealthy fare," came an amused voice from the corner table. "And I don't like your performance, Rose."

The boy who had been talking to her froze. The other boy turned towards the corner table and took out an honest to goodness sword from under his shirt. The girl cursed, turned as well, and suddenly had daggers in her hands. Sunglasses Boy shook off his shock almost instantly and next thing Rose knew, he had a bunch of throwing stars in his hands.

She'd seen and heard quite enough; she dived for the kitchen and ran right out the back door. She heard Winslow's friends laugh but she didn't care; she had been convinced she was about to hear a gunshot and that it'd be the last thing she'd ever hear.

As far as she was concerned, she'd just had a near death experience, and the only reason she didn't decide to run away from town was the knowledge she'd never get away without being silenced permanently by one of Jim Winslow's buddies.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Thanks for reading!

A big thank you to WillWrite4Fics for reading this over for me and checking that all those non-ninjas in there were acting like themselves.


	18. Chapter 18: Valleytown Showdown, part I

**Author's Notes**

You know something, this is actually getting close to the end! I'd say there are two or three chapters left. Give or take.

I'm getting the feeling lately that this story's been kicking around too long and has overstayed its welcome, so it's probably a good thing it's wrapping up, right?

Thanks for sticking with me; I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

* * *

**Chapter 18: The Valleytown Showdown, Part I**

"Firefly," Jinx growled in mock greeting. "I see you haven't lost the habit of hiding your ugly mug. Reduced to using a newspaper now, are you?" she teased, referring to the fact Firefly had, up to that point, been doing precisely that.

"Whatever works, Kimi," he replied with a grin. "I must say, you look exactly like you did back when I was a guest in your home. A bit taller, is all… not a very good disguise; not for me, anyway." He pushed a button on his cell phone and put it away again. "Sic them boys, before they decide to stop trying to reason with me. Absolutely no kill, I want them alive. Word to the wise, they're ninja trainees."

He dove behind the table as he talked, narrowly avoiding the shurikens Billy threw his way.

Men seemed to come out of the woodwork then; most of the patrons got up and surrounded Jinx, Billy and Kamakura. More came out of the kitchen, and more again came in from the street.

Firefly slipped out, grinning. The way he saw it, if Kimi and the boys turned out to be good enough to defeat his men, he'd be at risk if he stayed and tried to help unless he gave up on being nice and simply blew them up – a solution he could implement with more ease from a safe distance anyway. If, on the other hand, his men could handle the three Arashikage, there was really no need for him to stay and expose himself to injuries.

He really did hope the ninjas would not get the upper hand. Beyond not relishing having to recruit a bunch of replacements, the two apprentices and Jinx would make a nice insurance policy if Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes somehow managed to start giving him trouble. The masters would be downright obligated to do just about anything he demanded if it was the only way to keep their apprentices safe, and the Young Master at the very least would not let anything happen to Little Kimi, either.

It was a shame the Commander was not currently obsessed with finding his son, since it meant he wouldn't pay much to get Billy right now, but if things turned out for the best and none of the ninjas and ninja trainees escaped his custody, he could always hide the Young Master's apprentice until the young man's dad felt more fatherly again. As for the other two, he was picturing a nice bonfire, à la witch burning. His smiled widened as he hurried away from the battle taking place inside the restaurant.

* * *

Beach Head scowled at the empty camp, in particular at the lurid pink tent that he assumed Storm Shadow had imposed on his unfortunate cousin and that was causing the greenshirts to struggle not to snicker despite the situation.

"Damn spooks…" he growled.

They had already done a quick walkthrough and found that at least some of the ninjas had been around the camp as recently as that morning. Scarlett was now poking in the tents and Recondo was walking around the forest, both of them looking for clues, while the greenshirts, under Beach Head's supervision, were inspecting the rest of the camp.

Scarlett walked out of the pink tent a few minutes later, holding a bunch of papers.

"Jinx and the boys are probably off downstream from here," she said. "There are hints for two trials, and the second one is what they should be on by now." She waived a bunch of paper strips. "Once you put these in order, it sends them down the river."

Beach Head grunted in a vaguely affirmative manner. "So you figure they still think the other two are with that Glaive thing? You realize we don't know that, right? For all we know, they were all attacked and they got separated."

She narrowed her eyes at him, insulted. "You really think you need to TELL me that? We don't have a better lead right now, we might as well try this one."

"We ARE going to check it out," he growled. "Just making sure your head is still screwed on right." He raised his arm to signal the rest of the group and everyone either gathered round or took off to fetch more of the soldiers.

* * *

Billy spotted Firefly getting away and snorted while he dodged the first goon that tried to tackle him. He pinched the man's sleeping point and barked out a laugh. "Some boss you guys have! He's the only one of you who should be able to handle us and he takes off!"

The taunt had no effect on the well trained and well paid men, unless you counted more of them suddenly circling him. His eye narrowed and he threw a couple of shurikens at the two closest men to slow them down while he unsheathed his short swords. "Pay's worth it, is it?" he sneered. "How are the benefits? Got any life insurance?"

Kamakura slid down under some gun fire and cut down the shooters as he came back up, tuning Billy out. The talking wasn't a surprise; it was Storm Shadow's style all over. The Young Master could talk non stop without getting distracted in the least, and judging by the fact he still dodged and fought like he had eyes in the back of his head, without even affecting his ability to hear everything going on around him.

There was a slight pause in the movement of Firefly's men when the two he had sliced fell dead, and then most of their weapons were aimed straight at him.

The pause had been more than enough for Jinx to know what would happen next. She tackled Kamakura and dragged him along under the line of fire. She let go mid roll, and Snake Eyes' apprentice, showing off his own battle skills, abruptly switched direction. Kimi jumped up and threw a half dozen knives at the goons, aiming for their throats. Two buried themselves in shoulders instead, but four found their intended targets and suddenly, Kamakura was no longer the enemy's prime target. She smirked as Kamakura materialized behind a cluster of Firefly's men and went to work while she dodged the gun fire now aimed at her.

Sean came out of his roll leg extended towards a fallen weapon, intent on grabbing it with his foot, and cursed; he still had his sneakers on. He kicked them off angrily, but it was only so he wouldn't miss another opportunity; this one was gone, his momentum had him out of the gun's reach, up and slicing more foes already.

Billy frowned in concentration, still throwing random remarks at his attackers; the other two's kills had only resulted in the fight becoming more intense and in Firefly's men disregarding their orders and actively trying to shoot them down. This was a problem because although the opponents were outmatched skill-wise, they would eventually gain the advantage through sheer numbers.

Which meant…

"Out!" Jinx called out, right on cue.

Billy raked his brains; he wanted to find out where the senseis were before they ran off. He'd been trying to tease clues out of Firefly's goons in between insults and whatever else he'd been yapping at them, but he'd had zero luck. He wasn't doing that hot with the actual fight, either; his burnt off pant leg attested to the fact he was unharmed only because the flame thrower he hadn't dodged had happened to be aimed at his titanium limb.

He dodged a tackle and saw the perfect opening for jumping out the nearest window. He clenched his jaw, resigned himself to the fact he'd never hear the end of it if anyone caught him doing that, and ignored the opportunity.

One guess. Just one guess and then he was out of here. "You guys are in SO much trouble!" he taunted. "I can't believe you went and told us they were in the bank vault!"

It was the first thing that crossed his mind, being a reinforced place that you'd find in most any town. He regretted it instantly: such a small town was sure to have small vault, nowhere near big enough to hold two prisoners.

The closest men stopped and acquired a deer in the headlights look that, although it only lasted a second, made Billy's day.

The exultation lasted about two seconds and ended with a lot of pain as the mercenaries all dove for him and three of them managed to stick tazers in his back, shoulder and chest.

Jinx heard Billy scream and fall. She cursed and threw a couple of smoke bombs in his direction, spotted Kamakura already running towards him as well and hoped he had retained something from the previous day's training.

Sean didn't get much of a chance to show whether he had or not; the stupid goons that were in the smoke cloud were all standing still, coughing and yelling at the ninjas to come out of hiding; they were disposed off in seconds. Jinx brushed Kamakura as she jumped to the ceiling to let him know where she was going, trusting him to figure out he needed to lift Billy up to her.

Kamakura took a few steps while swinging his feet around in turn, figuring finding his brother as fast as possible was more important at this point than being gentle about it and slowly feeling around.

In a way, the strategy worked as intended; Sean found the younger man almost immediately. Unfortunately, he hadn't been prepared to find him by way of his sneaker-free toes connecting squarely with Billy's metal leg and he had been even less prepared for said leg to send an electric shock right through him.

He clenched his jaw to keep himself from screaming at the double assault on his nerves. He hated regular static shocks, and although it didn't feel like it had done any permanent damage, this was much, much worse. The fact his toes were throbbing was not improving things any, either.

He cursed under his breath at the brunette as he picked him up and raised him above his head for Jinx to grab.

Jinx pulled Billy up and Kamakura jumped right after him. The remaining goons were shouting and looking for them, but thankfully didn't start just shooting at the ceiling; obviously, they weren't used to dealing with ninjas.

* * *

The ninjas' guard changed every two hours. To date, they had all been fairly non descript, and they all behaved in the exact same proud professional brainless goon manner, so the changes had been non events. The one that came in now, however, was humming and smiling.

The man he was replacing gave him a funny look but, obviously more eager to get off work than he was curious, just shrugged and left.

"I can barely hear anything and I can still tell you're off key," Storm Shadow commented.

"Yep, can't carry a tune to save my life," the guard replied with a smile. "But I do like music." He produced a little electronic device and put it on the chair the guards were typically sitting on. "I like nature sounds even more, though. Like this." He touched something on the device and the sound of a rushing waterfall filled the room.

Snake Eyes blinked; he could guess the guard was trying to make them want to relieve themselves, but why he'd want to do that was beyond him.

"We have a betting pool," the mercenary said, answering the unspoken question. "We bet on when you'd pee yourselves, and MY bet is for sometime in the next two hours." He buffed his fingernails, obviously very proud of his little scheme.

Storm Shadow snorted. "It was a fool's bet; ninjas are in perfect control of such things. We will not give you the satisfaction."

Snake Eyes nodded as energetically as he could with his nearly immobilized head, playing along despite his growing discomfort. Tommy was lying through his teeth about their supposed control, but he was right about their not wanting to do anything to make any of Firefly's men happy.

The next few minutes felt like hours to both ninjas but their attention was soon diverted by a commotion that could be heard somewhere outside their cell.

"Is that gunfire?" Storm Shadow asked, straining his ears to hear better, trying to somehow make something useful out of what little sounds got through the loud humming that still drowned just about everything out.

Snake Eyes nodded as well as he could again to signify that there was indeed some gunfire outside.

"You're hoping for GI Joe to swoop in and save the day, are you?" their current guard asked with a snicker. "Forget that. It's just your little ninja buddies. Listen up, the gunfire stopped; I say we got them by now. Alive if you're all lucky."

Tommy's eyes widened and although he could still not hear it, he felt his heart start hammering in his chest. The Commander was not likely to content himself with Snake Eyes and himself if he also had Kimi, Sean and Billy there for the taking. And the three younger clan members were not, as far as Tommy knew, capable of performing the Phoenix Trance and overdoing it, which meant they didn't even have the last desperate option of killing themselves rather than becoming mind slaves.

Snake Eyes cursed internally; reflecting his own growing panic over this whole situation in general and this new development in particular, Tommy had gone white as a sheet. He swore to himself that if they ever got out of here, he was going to beat some serious sense into Kamakura, Billy and Jinx. How could they have been so stupid as to attempt a rescue on their own? GI Joe was only a few hours away! They had stayed close to the Pit on purpose!

"How would I hope for GI Joe?" Storm Shadow snarled, interrupting Snake Eyes' thoughts. "I told them everything was fine, didn't I?"

"Yep!" the guard replied cheerfully. "You're all screwed. Shame, isn't it? Now don't you wish you at least didn't have to pee?"

"You WILL pay for this," Storm Shadow growled. "All of you. You idiots should not have made yourselves a threat to the Arashikage."

The guard shrugged, and did not react either to the rest of the verbal abuse Storm Shadow gave him for the next hour.

Snake Eyes, for his part, was desperately trying to stay calm, going so far as to try and feel a bit of satisfaction over the fact the guard was starting to squirm, his waterfall soundtrack clearly affecting him. He even eventually turned it off.

Despite that minor amusement, the silent ninja was fighting a losing battle against his own nerves, right until Tommy suddenly shut up right in the middle of a rant, sniffed, and grinned.

Snake Eyes took a whiff too and smiled under the rubber mask; the small vent was letting in a familiar smell indeed. Their guard sniffed too, wrinkled his nose, and frowned at them.

"You really think I'm going to fall for that? Oh!" he said, taking on a sing-song voice obviously meant to represent his prisoners, "let's pretend whatever is stinking out there is great news for us and see if we can get our stupid guard to go check it out and leave us alone!" He scowled at them. "Well it ain't working. I'm NOT stu…"

He was interrupted by gunfire right outside the door, quickly followed by said door being pushed open, letting a couple of Joes in and a couple more to stand in the doorway. All four had their guns aimed straight at the helpless guard.

"You!" one of them barked at another. "Untie the spooks! Rest of you, we shoot if this guy twitches funny!"

Much to the amusement of the ninjas, it was all too much for the mercenary's already tortured bladder.

"You didn't happen to fail to specify who had to wet themselves for that betting pool of yours, did you?" Storm Shadow asked pleasantly. "Now THAT would have been smart."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And now for something completely different! I have a contest on the go, to find a goof I did on another story, that I just spotted recently. You can check out the details on my profile, at the bottom of my bio. I'm sure you could all find goofs in several of my stories, but the contest if for a specific one.

Thanks for reading, and feedback is, as always, much appreciated!


	19. Chapter 19: Valleytown Showdown, part II

**Author's Note**

Confession time: I made a stupid mistake in the dialog between Scarlett and Beach Head in the last chapter. I went back and edited to correct. The correction doesn't affect the story as such, it's just that the old version made it sound like Scarlett didn't know about Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow's plan to be 'kidnapped', when she did.

One chapter to go after this one. I thought this would be the last one, but it was getting too long and I felt this story was due for an update.

Oh, and the little contest from the note on the last chapter has been won! Details on my profile.

* * *

**Chapter 19: ValleyTown Showdown, part II**

_Earlier…_

Beach Head scratched his head; this made no sense even by ninja standards. After a bit of searching, they had found the Arashikage insignia promised by the note Scarlett had found at the spooks' camp, but there was nobody around and what answers the scene provided weren't good news.

The symbol was on one of three pieces of a hollow wooden cylinder, which, by the looks of it, had been planted in the middle of the small clearing they were in before it had been cut apart. There was also a nail on the piece, which appeared to be the top one, and between Scarlett, Recondo and himself, they had guessed the nail had probably held instructions to Jinx and the apprentices. It seemed clear that the instructions had been to cut the wooden cylinder, most likely demanding that it be cut precisely where it had been, on a painted red line, but…

"That's not right," Scarlett said, echoing his thoughts. "Snake Eyes told me about this test, and the stick was supposed to be full of weak explosives so the password in it would burn if Kamakura didn't cut it right. An empty tube like this is pointless; the cut could have been completely off and it wouldn't have made any difference." She sighed. "This was only half set up."

Beach Head nodded. "Storm's probably with Snakes then," he grunted. He turned towards Recondo, who was heading back towards them from examining the tracks around the clearing.

"Three of them headed back to camp from here," he said. "Billy, Jinx and someone else. I can't tell for sure who the third…"

He was interrupted by the sound of gun shots.

Beach Head snorted. "Well, _that_ makes tracking the damn trouble magnets easier."

* * *

Jinx immediately covered his mouth with her hand when Billy started groaning, and shook him by the shoulder to finish waking him up. The young man blearily locked his one good eye on one of hers and nodded to signify he'd be quiet.

"Where…?" he whispered.

"We're in an attic, six doors down from the restaurant," Jinx replied, her voice just as low as his.

"You're heavy," Kamakura remarked, whispering as well. "Just saying."

"Sorry," Billy said sincerely. He smirked then. "But I was worth it: I know where the masters…" He didn't finish; his eye widened and he slipped two knives from his sleeves to his hands, springing to his knees.

Jinx was already in position, facing the same way. Kamakura could not hear whatever it was that they had, but he knew enough to trust them on this and readied a couple of knives of his own; they were in too tight quarters to want to use swords.

A soft chuckle came from below them. "You three sound like a bunch of raccoons up there. Or at least you do with our sound enhancers on."

The voice had been soft, just above a whisper, but it was still easily recognizable; the kunoichi and the apprentices relaxed and slipped out through the attic door, landing on the floor next to Recondo, who had spoken, and a very smug looking Thompson.

"Told you it'd be the sixth door down, Sarge," he said, whispering like the rest. "It's always six, and they had to come this way to stay in the shadows."

"You tell people lots of things," Recondo said with a shrug. "But even aside from that nice burnt smell you got going," he tilted his chin towards Billy, "you three rookies left tracks." He pointed at a spot on the floor that didn't appear any different than the rest of it to anyone else present. "Bunch of slightly damp spots starting at the door, made by bare feet."

Kamakura self consciously glanced at his feet and felt himself turning red. He had a strong feeling that his sensei was not going to be very happy with him over this one.

"How many Joes are here?" Billy asked, getting the conversation back on track. "Can't be just you two, can it? Where's everyone else?"

"Beach Head, Scarlett and sixteen more greenies are waiting in the woods. We were sent on recon," Recondo said. "Found out pretty quick you three had slipped away from some hired goons so we started looking for you."

"The goons are Firefly's," Jinx specified. "Let's go find the others, we need to break Tommy and Snake Eyes out."

"No need for us to risk going back all the way there again," Recondo said, taking out a cell phone. "We'll call and set a rendez vous point. I don't suppose you know where they are?"

"They're in the bank vault," Billy supplied. "I don't know WHY they have a vault that big here, but…"

"Really? You can't guess?" Thompson interrupted, sounding somewhere between appalled and amused. "It's an old bunker, got to be. If the guy who built it still owns it, I bet you it's still ready for use, too."

Recondo emitted an authoritative shush coupled with the appropriate hand gesture, his phone on his ear. The other four fell silent and waited. Faintly, they heard the phone ring once on the other end and then, what sounded like Beach Head.

"Hey," Recondo said, softly but directly into his microphone to make it sound to any potential eavesdropper on the line as though he was speaking normally. "Got your critters back… Fido and Scales are totally fine, Boot got into a fight but nothing serious. Bugs aren't as bad as you said. I mean, there's more than home, but I've seen worse. Besides, half of them are just house flies, they don't bite. Anyway, you owe me forty-five."

Back in the forest with the rest of the Joes, just a few trees away from the cleared area that was the village, Beach Head replied using the same tone and the same strategy to make his voice sound normal over the line. "How's Boot? Just scratched up?"

"Yeah. Don't sweat it, he's fine. You wouldn't be able to tell if I hadn't told you," Recondo replied.

"I'm home tomorrow," Beach improvised as a natural continuation to the coded conversation. "Can you swing by then?"

"Yup," Recondo replied. "See yah." He hung up and turned back to the ninjas. "We rendez vous with them behind the bank in fifteen minutes."

* * *

Beach Head hung up and turned to Scarlett.

"Snake Eyes IS the one with Storm; Recondo found the other three. They're going to be at the bank in fifteen minutes."

"Who are we dealing with?" Scarlett asked.

"Firefly, and he's got lots of men but nothing we can't handle," Beach Head replied in a grunt.

"Full on, then," the red head said. Truth be told, she felt better now that they had the information they needed and could act on it. "Any clue where the bank is?"

"Nope," Beach Head replied, "and we got hostages to deal with, too. 'Condo said Firefly's kept the town folks on the streets." He turned to the assembled greenshirts, who were all at the ready and just waiting for their orders. "We're going in, Firefly's bunch are going to be given one chance to surrender. If they don't take it, that's too bad for them. Watch for the civvies, try to shoo them indoors or to the woods so they're out of the way, but assume any one of them can be a merc waiting for an opening. Got it?"

The greenshirts, still being quiet, nodded firmly.

* * *

The Joes came out of the woods ready for anything. What they got was a grand total of two civilians noticing them and throwing their arms up in the air while grinning and thanking them profusely all the while they were being searched and shooed to the woods. The part of the village they were in was very quiet, possibly because it was lunch time, but more likely because Firefly's men were occupied elsewhere and the civvies were avoiding the outdoors.

Scarlett echoed his thoughts. "I hope this doesn't mean they're all on Recondo's back," she muttered. "Sounds like something's going on that way," she added, pointing to their right.

"Recondo can look after himself," Beach Head said, trying to sound more confident than he was; he didn't much like the idea of the enemy cornering a small subgroup. "Just the same, that's just as good a direction to start as any."

"No it's not. Bank's the other way."

Beach Head rolled his eyes and turned around to face Recondo, who had snuck up behind him. Jinx and the apprentices were there as well, looking a bit worse for the wear and distinctly impatient.

"Step away from the spooks, Recondo; they're already being a bad influence," Beach Head grumbled. "Sneaking up behind people, I swear…"

Scarlett side stepped both of them to face Jinx. "What can you tell us? What happened? What does Firefly want?"

"We can tell you that Mindbender is here too, and that's pretty much it," Billy answered, speaking quickly but otherwise doing his darnedest not to sound as irritated as he was. They needed to get going, this was not the time for twenty questions.

Jinx nodded to confirm. "Your guess is as good as ours as for what Firefly wants or how he managed to capture the masters."

"Masters of finding trouble," Beach Head grunted. "So where's that bank?"

Recondo pointed and the group was off, battle ready. It wasn't until they were almost at the bank that they ran into trouble, and they saw the cordon Firefly had established well before they were spotted themselves, allowing a near silent approach as the mercenaries that blocked the way were taken out one at a time with silent weapons.

By the time they reached the actual door to the bank vault, Beach Head was quite pleased with the fact he'd be able to torment the ninjas for years over getting themselves captured by such a useless bunch.

The presence of a cluster of guards at the entrance of the vault partly ruined the feeling; the Joes were finally forced to use their guns, which would certainly alert more of Firefly's men.

In short order however, Beach Head was storming the cell with three greenshirts and looking at the ninjas tied up like sausages and at their lone guard. He couldn't help but smirk under his balaclava as he yelled at two of the greenies to untie the spooks and at the other to help him watch the very obviously terrified guard, complete with physical evidence of said terror.

Even Storm Shadow's snarky comment to the guard on the matter didn't make either ninja look more dignified, especially since Tommy's good mood was short lived. Within a quarter of a second, his expression changed from relief to worry.

"The gunfire earlier," he asked urgently. "Was that you?"

Scarlett's voice came from the outside of the vault. "Why do you need to ask? Since when can't you tell our guns from others?"

Tommy snarled in her general direction. "Because I can't hear. Now WAS IT YOU?"

"Are you kidding?" came Billy's voice from outside the vault. "You ACTUALLY have an ear infection?"

Tommy only relaxed very slightly. Billy being well enough to speak didn't mean he was actually fine and he couldn't hear well enough to guess from his apprentice's tone whether the other two were all right as well. Finally free, he hurried towards the door, Snake Eyes at his side.

"It was Jinx and the boys getting shot at," Beach Head said coolly in answer to Storm Shadow's question.

Thankfully for the ninjas' nerves, they were outside the cell by then and could see the rest of the group of Joes in the landing and the stairs that led to the main floor of the bank. Jinx and the apprentices were among them, looking a bit roughed up, but alive and mostly well.

* * *

"So it's all YOUR fault," Jinx concluded.

She'd just finish relating to her cousin everything that had happened, including their concluding his and Snake Eyes' second kidnapping was as fake as the first, and how that had led the boys and herself to believe they were supposed to find them on their own in Valleytown.

The Joes were out of the bank and quickly searching the streets, looking for more of Firefly's men or better yet, Mindbender or Firefly himself. They figured the alternatives were to be ambushed or to go away only for Firefly to take out his loss on the town or to at the very least, get away with Mindbender. Storm Shadow was pretty much the only one who felt whether the mad scientist got to keep his blood or not made a difference, but just the same, since the doctor and the mercenary had only poorly trained troops defending them, not trying to capture them would have been madness. Besides, nobody wanted anyone from Cobra getting something they wanted; even if it was just a bit of ninja blood.

Storm Shadow shot Jinx a dirty look. "Really? That's how highly you think of our craftiness? You were convinced that upon one trick failing within a day, we'd just try the exact same one again? So convinced that you did not even consider any other possibility?"

Jinx bit her lips. With hindsight, she didn't feel they had been as smart as they had felt at the time. She was almost glad for the distraction when Recondo suddenly shot at a door.

"We saw you in your little hidey-hole, Mindbender!" he shouted, thus confirming he had just found one of the men they had been looking for. "Save yourself some trouble and surrender!"

Tommy grinned and ran into the small house with Recondo and some of the greenshirts. The boys were getting along, Jinx had been looking after them…if he could just get his blood back, he'd consider this trip a complete, if wildly off script, success.

Mindbender was standing in the living room, his arms already up in the air, snarling at them. Storm Shadow frowned; the doctor did not look nearly worried enough about being taken prisoner. Scarlett, Beach Head and some more greenshirts entered the house as well and judging from their scowls, Scarlett and Beach Head at the very least seemed to share his opinion.

"Firefly and his men are setting up an ambush, aren't they?" Scarlett asked Mindbender, scowling. "Is that why you're so calm?"

Mindbender lifted his nose at her and refused to answer.

"He's got reinforcements waiting for us somewhere, all right," Beach Head said, his eyes narrowing. "Look out all directions!" Beach Head barked. "And someone tie up the snake!"

Storm Shadow was already on the doctor. "My blood, Mindbender," he growled while securing his hands. "You know I wouldn't need much of an excuse to spill yours."

Mindbender's eyes widened. "Why do you even…?" Tommy increased the pressure on the doctor's wrists in warning. "Fine!" Mindbender hissed. "It's still in my front pocket. The solution is being unstable," he grumbled, obviously irritated at his concoction's misbehaviour, which was currently preventing him from adding a new ingredient to it.

Tommy pulled the vial out of Mindbender's pocket and threw it on the solid wood floor, smashing it and spilling the contents.

The Cobra scientist screamed in protest and even struggled against his bounds until Storm Shadow put his fingers on his throat. "I told you I wouldn't need much of an excuse," he warned again, grinning as much from the relief of having destroyed the sample as from the sheer fun of bullying Mindbender.

The doctor stopped moving. "Idiot!" he snarled. "This could have been to your advantage! What do you gain by this childish refusal to share?"

"I've brought my family enough dishonour already, I won't allow you to desecrate my ancestors' blood through mine, too," Storm Shadow replied in a growl, his good humour temporarily gone. He shoved his prisoner away from himself and towards the nearest greenshirt. "Someone else babysit this _thing_ before I smear it all over the place."

The few Joes who had entered the house were already leaving, more on their guard than ever. Tommy strained his ears as he got out, trying to hear anything that would signal danger, and cursed under his breath; he couldn't make out anything. A hand appeared in front of him, holding a sound enhancer.

"Would that help?" Thompson asked gruffly. "The Ear That Sees is echolocation and identification, too, right? Not just hearing noises other people don't?"

Tommy raised an eyebrow; he had never even considered using such a gadget, but if it could make things loud enough to be clear over the loud humming sound that was filling his ears, he'd be able to hear the ambush they all knew was coming before they walked into it.

Thompson was still talking. "Because if it is, you'll do us more good with this than I would. It's worth missing out on your being misera… err, I mean, it's worth doing without it myself. Sergeant."

Storm Shadow snorted and took the sound enhancer, adjusting it over his right ear. He winced and took it off again right away; it made things louder, all right, but it made the humming louder, too.

"No good," he sighed, handing it back to Thompson. "Go give it to Billy or Jinx. Not Kamakura, he has no training worth speaking of in the Ear That Sees."

One of Thompson's eyebrows arched slightly but he made no comment, instead nodding crisply and taking off. Tommy smirked; pointing out a flaw in Kamakura's training would have been a bit rotten if Snake Eyes had actually been interested in training the conspiracy theorist, but since he absolutely wasn't, and since it really would have been a waste for Kamakura to be given the electronic hearing enhancer rather than Jinx or Billy, he felt no guilt whatsoever. His ear injury excepted, which he knew from experience was treatable if extremely inconvenient and unpleasant, this trip just kept getting better.

* * *

The ambush happened less than five minutes after the capture of Mindbender. Jinx, Billy and Kamakura were reminded of what had happened at the restaurant earlier as mercenaries seemed to materialize out of everywhere, pouring into the street and popping up on rooftops by the dozens.

Sadly for them, Firefly's men were facing twenty-five Joes, among which three ninjas, three almost ninjas, and one Beach Head.

The battle was very one-sided.

The Joes did a quick head count once the surviving goons were disarmed and secured. Tommy barely had time to confirm Billy and Jinx were still standing when he felt Snake Eyes' hand on his shoulder. His heart sank and his eyes widened; his brother's hand was shaking. He looked frantically around but quickly found, as Snake Eyes already had, that Kamakura was nowhere to be seen.


	20. Chapter 20: Valleytown Showdown part III

**Author's Notes**

Would you believe it? This is the last chapter! Seems like forever since I started this story… *checks* Oh, wait, it HAS been forever.

I'm sorry for the delays between updates. This hasn't been a good year for me at all, and I guess it affected my writing more than I thought it would.

And then, just to delay this chapter a bit more, my brand new Mimoco Storm Shadow drive, which should have been my pride and joy, crapped out and erased all my files – including this chapter. I lost about half of it (what was new since the last backup) and had to rewrite. I requested a replacement or a refund, but no answer from the company so far. So… as cool as they look, I would advise against purchasing Mimoco drives.

But anyway… on to the end!

Thank you for reading this far, and please review; feedback is priceless.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Valleytown Showdown, part III**

_- Earlier –_

Firefly had not become successful in his line of work by taking unnecessary risks. Truth be told, he only took chances when the payoff was worth it, be it in money or sheer entertainment. Playing with explosives was a good example; it was technically dangerous and from a strictly monetary perspective, not always the most reasonable way to get a job done. However, blowing things up was way too much fun to refrain from it just because it was risky.

Even when he did choose to tempt fate, the mercenary always very carefully stacked the odds in his favour as much as possible and one of the many ways he did that was by acquiring all the information he could; knowledge was power, and if you knew what you were doing, it was power that came at a very good price.

For instance, bugging the house Mindbender had selected to use as his temporary lab had cost next to nothing, and it had been more than worth it. For starters, it had been very amusing to find out that the Cobra scientist was assuming the planned ambush would allow him to escape; in reality, Firefly's men did not stand a chance against the ninjas, ninjas in training and elite soldiers, and the only point of the ambush was to keep the Joes busy long enough to allow Firefly to skip town untroubled.

But then, Storm Shadow had destroyed Mindbender's blood sample. Firefly, from his hiding point in the shadow of a house half a block back from the Joes' position, grinned at the memory. Mindbender had already paid a lot of money for a sample of Hattori's DNA, and the mercenary knew his client would pay more again to get one back.

It hadn't taken Firefly long to figure out a plan. After all, there were things more important to the Young Master than a few drops of his blood; all he had to do was to take one of those things and then make a trade with the ninja.

He waited to make his move until the ambush was in full swing. Some of his men were down already, including local bad boy Winslow, but there were more than enough left yet to give him the time he needed. He chose the one of his two potential targets that was furthest from the Arashikage masters and shot a tranquilizer dart at the young man. A quick bit of manoeuvring later, he was dragging Kamakura's unconscious form away from the battle, unseen and thanks to Storm Shadow's ear injury, unheard.

* * *

Tommy didn't need to alert the others; Kamakura's absence was quickly noticed by just about everyone and before Beach Head could even give new orders to deal with the situation, a familiar voice called out from a nearby rooftop.

"Looking for this, Joes?" Firefly held Kamakura in front of him, showing him off and using him as a shield. The ninja apprentice was unconscious, solidly tied up and covered in what appeared to be explosives. "He's a bit tied up at the moment," Firefly continued genially, "but I could be talked into trading him back..."

Snake Eyes snarled under his mask. It just figured, didn't it? Why was it that things just never stuck to going well for more than a few minutes? They were free, the apprentices were getting along, they had just effectively dismantled Firefly's gang… of COURSE something would go terribly wrong. Why had he not seen this coming?

Beach Head narrowed his eyes. Joes may not leave Joes behind, but they also did not usually negotiate with the likes of Firefly. He clenched his jaw and reached for his gun; he'd just have to hope the mercenary didn't have time to set off the explosives.

Firefly disappeared behind Kamakura. "You're kidding, right?" he asked with a chuckle. "I was trained as a ninja; I'm good at hiding and still be able to see what I need. Ah, thank you, Young Master. Much better show of good will."

Beach Head whipped around; Storm Shadow was holding Mindbender, obviously considering giving Firefly the prisoner exchange they could all guess he wanted. Snake Eyes was, unsurprisingly, standing right by his sword brother.

"That's not your decision to make, Storm Shadow," the Sergeant Major growled.

"So court martial me," Storm Shadow replied. "I cannot abandon our student." Snake Eyes nodded, raised his hand and pointed to himself, signifying he was with his brother on this.

Beach Head forced himself to think through his rising anger; his options boiled down to two: exchange of prisoner or a fight with the ninjas and in the best case scenario, still one dead Joe in Kamakura. Since they were on a rescue mission in the first place, getting the ninjas back home safely was the priority and the only real argument in favour of refusing to deliver Mindbender was the general philosophy of not negotiating with terrorists. Right now, that argument wasn't very compelling, especially since Beach Head had been about to agree to the prisoner exchange even before Storm Shadow had moved. Letting the spooks get away with imposing their own decision was out of the question, but dealing with that would just have to wait until they were all back at the Pit. He turned his gaze towards the Cobra mercenary again.

"Fine," he growled. "You can have your boyfriend back. Now get those things off the baby spook."

"Oh, but I'm not trading for Mindbender alone," Firefly said with a smirk. "I wouldn't even care about him, except he won't be able to buy Storm Shadow's new blood sample from me if he's your prisoner, now will he?"

Tommy's eyes widened before narrowing into slits as his upper lip curled up into a snarl and his fists clenched. Mindbender howled as the ninja's hold on him, which had already been uncomfortable, suddenly tightened.

Firefly chuckled; if looks could kill, the Arashikage ninja's glare would have surely been the end of him. As it was, his foe's heinous expression was just amusing. He made a show of inspecting his nails and adopted a bored tone to issue his next instructions. "On one of the red fury's shurikens will do."

Storm Shadow shoved Mindbender at Snake Eyes and, still staring angrily at Firefly, extended his arm towards Scarlett.

The red head, who like most everyone else around felt that whether or not Mindbender acquired Tommy's blood for his mixed cloning attempt was of no importance whatsoever, obligingly deposited one of her throwing stars in her team mate's hand.

Never taking his eyes off the Cobra mercenary, strictly because as ineffectual as it was, glaring at him was the worst he could do to the man right now, Tommy used the star-shaped blade to make a shallow cut on his thigh, cutting right through the civilian cargo pants he was still wearing, and then held up the shuriken to show Firefly the blood staining it.

"Goood ninja," Firefly cooed. "Now give it to Mindbender and send him this way," he continued in a tone that was once more all business. "We're both going to disappear, but I'm keeping the detonator. It has a very good range, and I'm holding it in my hand… anyone tries to follow us, the kid blows up before you can possibly have half of those explosives off him. Now, I know you're all thinking that if I take the detonator, you have no way to know I won't blow poor little Sean Collins up whether I'm followed or not… it's a shame you have no power to negotiate over this, isn't it?" He cackled and readjusted Kamakura in front of him to remind the Joes that shooting him was also out of the question.

Mindbender finally allowed himself to believe things were actually working out when Snake Eyes released his grip on him. He grinned as he took the shuriken from Storm Shadow, intent on a dignified walk toward Firefly that would have been sure to enrage the Joes, but the ninja's glare killed the pleasing image and replaced it by one involving considerably more cheerful Joes and a lot more bits of himself splattered on the road. He lost his smile and ran off without looking back.

* * *

"Tommy, we get it; you're not happy. You can shut up now," Jinx said with a sigh.

The ninjas, along with Scarlett and a handful of injured greenshirts, were on their way back to the Pit in the chopper that had carried Beach Head and his team to their short lived campsite. The Sergent Major had stayed behind with Recondo and the healthy greenshirts to wait for transport for their prisoners, the bodies of the less lucky mercenaries, and themselves.

Storm Shadow had been ranting, raving and cursing non stop ever since they had recovered Kamakura. Jinx was pretty sure some greenshirts had hid injuries just to get to stay behind and away from the pissy ninja.

Said pissy ninja gave his cousin a dirty look. Kimi cast a brief glance at Kamakura, silently communicating to the ninja master that he was well on his way to making the young man miserable with guilt.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "He knows better. I would not expect an apprentice to get the upper hand on Firefly."

Kamakura, who had been paying more attention than strictly necessary, though not because of any misplaced guilt, nodded. "Thank you, Young Master. I am sorry to have been a liability, but I know I had no chance to avoid it once Firefly settled on his plan."

Jinx frowned slightly, puzzled. She could tell Sean was not lying – he was after all terrible at it – but just the same, Snake Eyes' apprentice was definitely bothered by something.

"You mean Jinx and I don't get points for being the only ones of us five NOT to get captured by Firefly on this trip?" Billy asked.

"The only reason _you _weren't is because we carried you to safety!" Kamakura pointed out.

Billy caught a warning look from his sensei and shrugged. "Yeah…true enough," he conceded with a smirk and a mock salute to his sword brother.

Sean rolled his eyes but quickly brought them back to staring at an invisible point between Jinx and Storm Shadow; he had accidentally caught Thompson's eyes, and the conspiracy theorist was openly looking straight at him, focused enough to be unbothered by the fact the bandage on his head was slipping. Kamakura wasn't confident he could hide his sensei's lie now that he knew about it, or how said knowledge affected his opinion of the greenshirt. He was therefore very keen on avoiding any kind of conversation with the would-be apprentice.

Thompson clenched his jaw, furious. Kamakura was obviously keeping a secret, one that transparently involved him and, given that the red headed ninja apprentice was also avoiding looking at his beloved sensei, Snake Eyes.

The conspiracy theorist hated being kept in the dark; hated it with a passion. He glared at Billy, hoping Storm Shadow's apprentice would act friendly again and try to get on his good side by revealing what was going on, but the young man ignored him completely, listening instead to his sensei, whose diatribe had mutated from a curse filled rant into a curse filled history lesson on Hanzo Hattori and the Arashikage.

Thomson narrowed his eyes in concentration. If nobody was going to tell him, he'd just have to figure it out. Kamakura had obviously found out something about him during this trip, something that related somehow to Snake Eyes. Everyone knew he had asked the silent ninja to teach him, so it couldn't be that. Everyone knew about the werewolf incident, too, so it couldn't be that either. No, it had to be something else. And whatever it was, Kamakura did not want it so much as brought up in front of his sensei.

If it wasn't about something that had already happened, maybe it was about something that hadn't happened yet. The way Thompson figured, that was either that Snake Eyes would finally agree to teach him, or that he never would. As tempting as it was to think Kamakura had learned he'd soon have to share his sensei, it didn't fit with Collins' discomfort level. More likely, the red head had instead found out that Snake Eyes had no intention to ever teach him, no matter what.

The greenshirt bit his lip; it wasn't the conclusion he wanted to come to but truth be told, it matched a suspicion he'd had for a while. It was probably best to get out of denial and figure out his next move.

The end of the battle replayed in his mind. The Sergeant Major had been furious at the insubordination, but really, it hadn't been surprising. Storm Shadow was nothing if not consistent, and his priority was his clan.

Thompson's eyes widened slightly. That also explained the whole deception about the werewolf, come to think of it. Storm Shadow had even explained it, or tried to, anyway. Basically, it had come down to doing whatever was best for Snake Eyes; picking a priority.

The greenshirt internally groaned. He was not seriously considering this, was he? Granted, when he thought about it rationally, Storm Shadow could in fact be trusted. Not to be rational, obviously, but definitely to be good intentioned towards his clan. It was just a matter of knowing what to expect. You didn't demand a restaurant waiter do your taxes, and you didn't demand Storm Shadow be entirely sane. And, granted again, if he persisted in holding a pointless grudge, he'd miss the opportunity of a lifetime. Ninjas were spies and infiltrators, not to mention the fighting abilities… with that skill set, nobody would be able to deny him the truth ever again and eventually, he'd be able to accomplish the same miracles Snake Eyes routinely managed.

He sighed. He could forgive and seize an amazing opportunity, or he could be stupid and resentful. He felt he had never been stupid before in his life, and he saw no good reason to start now.

He got up and went to sit next to Billy, looking straight at Storm Shadow with what he hoped was a defiant, in control expression.

The ninja raised an eyebrow. "Interested in Hattori, are you?" he said. "Well, our secrets about him are now out in the worst possible hands anyway, so there is no reason to keep them from an ally… even one that has yet to accept an open offer to join the clan as an apprentice."

Thompson snorted. "You really think I'd sit here and listen to your ramblings if I wasn't doing exactly that?"

Tommy held back a smile long enough to gauge the clan's other master's reaction. His brother had told him before that he would not object to it if Thompson finally took him up on his offer of apprenticeship, but that had been under the belief that it would never happen.

Snake Eyes shrugged.

Storm Shadow grinned at his new apprentice. "And about time, too. But don't worry, we'll catch you up. Conspiracy theorists don't believe in sleep anyway, right?"

**Fin**


End file.
